A Ninja's Life
by Roza
Summary: Roza has a secret, a horrible secret. Can she keep the secret from her friends? Why does He act strange around her? Rated M for language.
1. The Bug and the Exam

**The Bug and the Exam**

'Why do I even bother?' I asked myself in my head after Ino Pig and everyone else left me alone for the first time all morning. "Maybe I should just kill myself." I said this out loud but I doubt anybody could hear me, seeing how I was alone. In fact, the only thing that probably _could_ hear me was the lone bug that crawled silently in front of me.

I was very interested in bugs, so I bent down and allowed it to crawl on my index finger. "Do you hate me?" I asked it, "Do you wish to see me dead?" It flew away when I said this, though I couldn't tell if that meant yes, or no.

Instead of finding out which way it went, I thought about everything Ino Pig called me.

"_You're such a loser, Roza."_

"_Why are you even here?"_

"_Yeah, Loser, why don't you just die?"_

A school Bell rang nearby, which made me jump. Everyone ran to the door of the academy, except for me, Hinata, and Shino.

Hyuuga Hinata was a quiet girl. She had bluish hair that was very short and she wore a whitish jacket. She walked on first, looking at her own feet.

Aburame Shino was a boy who spoke on rare occasions. He had messy brown hair that was a little spiky and he wore a white trench coat and tinted sunglasses. He glanced at me before turning away to walk second.

I merely stood where I was, looking at the very blue sky. 'Maybe I'll just skip again.' I thought to myself.

"You coming?" asked a boys voice. I snapped out of my trance and looked to see Shino facing me outside the door. We stared at each other for a while. My heart stopped for a millisecond. Then he said, "We have our finals today."

My eyes went a little wider, "Oh! Right." then I walked swiftly to the door as Shino disappeared inside the building.

When I approached the door to my classroom, I opened it and stepped inside.

Right at that moment, the late bell rang. 'Whew!'

"You're lucky, Roza" Iruka said. Most people giggled when he said my name. Roza, my name, meant 'loser'. So my teacher was really saying, "You're lucky, Loser."

I made my way to my seat, last chair, last row, as Iruka explained the final exam.

I didn't really listen. I thought about this morning when Shino waited for me at the door. I wondered if maybe I should glance at him, just a little peek. He was looking at me. I looked away as my face grew hot.

I listened more closely to what Iruka was saying. But all I heard was that we have to make at least five shadow clones to pass, but they had to be acceptable.

'This is going to be pretty simple,' I thought to myself, trying to ignore the kid with tinted glasses 'I should be able to get it, no problem.'

One by one my classmates walked into a different room. Some came out with their hard earned headbands, some came out empty handed and depressed, others didn't come out at all.

Finally, my name was called. I stood up, pushed my hair out of my eyes, and made my way to the empty room.

Iruka and my other teacher, Mizuki, were set at the very front of the room. There was a desk that Iruka sat at, and Mizuki stood behind a table of the headbands.

"Well, Roza." Iruka said. I nodded and got into my stance.

My feet were spread far apart, my hands made the sign and I focused my chakra. Five Roza's appeared in a puff of smoke. They weren't solid, but it wasn't very noticeable. I looked hopefully at Iruka.

He smiled at me and nodded to Mizuki who walked across the room and handed me my headband. I grabbed it and we shook hands. Then I walked to Iruka and shook his hand as well. "Congratulations!" he exclaimed, "You are now a ninja. I'm very proud of you Roza! You may go now, if you like."

I looked at my two teachers and smiled at them warmly. "Thank you. You have no idea what this means to me." tears ran down my face as I ran to the open window and jumped out of it, feeling the warm summer breeze as I landed.

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	2. Confessions and New Friends

((okay, new characters are being introduced, and they are all made up...sort of.))

**Confessions and New Friends**

The next day I woke up very early. "Damn dream." I muttered to myself, for I had yet another of those dreams that involved my past. This one, in my opinion, was the worst. I went to my dresser and brushed my hair as I tried to forget it. Unfortunately, it just kept on coming back:

"_No, Mommy! AUGHHH!" I fell to the floor as a sheet of hot iron was pressed firmly against my tear-stained face. "You are so spoiled, Roza! Why can't you just wake up when I tell you to?!" she yelled, as she raised her hand and slapped my in the same cheek. _

As I thought about this, my left cheek throbbed. Though that could have been from constantly falling out of my bed head first.

I put down my brush and opened the curtains of my window.

The sunlight blinded me for a second. But finally my eyes adjusted to the orange light. I turned around and yet another light blinded me. I squinted stupidly as I found the source.

My ninja headband was on my bedside table. The sun reflected off the metal part and landed in my face.

I saw dots as I moved out of the way and picked it up. I wrapped it around my leg.

We were supposed to wear it around our head, but then I would probably get a headache.

I grabbed my key, left my room, and locked the door without even looking at the time.

"Oh, hello Roza, dear." the Inn keeper greeted me. I liked her a lot; she took me to her Inn and took care of me for six years. She told me to call her 'Auntie.'

"Hey, Auntie," I said, smiling at her for the first time. She noticed, "You awfully happy today!"

"It's a big day; I start my Advance Ninja Studies!"

"That's wonderful, Roza! You make me so proud!" She ran and hugged me. That was new.

I've never felt so much affection before. In fact, I sometimes pondered at night was love really was! Tears ran down my face as I hugged back.

"Be careful out there, Roza. I don't know what I would do if I lost you."

"Auntie, for you, I'll come back in one piece. I love you." Those last words left my mouth of their own accord, but I meant it all the same.

Her hug tightened, "I love you too. Your...like a daughter to me."

"And your like a...a real mother."

She let go, patted my shoulder, and wiped a tear off my cheek. Then she went to her desk and took out a notebook.

It looked like anything I've ever seen; plain, boring, and gray.

She handed it to me, "Now I know that you don't like talking to anybody when your feeling down," she started, "but I want to make sure you don't keep everything all bottled up inside you." I looked at her, and then she sighed. "I know you killed your parents, Roza." I backed away.

"What?" my face was horror-stricken, "How...? You...!"

"When their bodies weren't found in the fire, you hardly cried at all. And you managed to pay for an Inn, even though you were only a child." she stopped and looked at the notebook in my hands. We were silent for a long time, then I spoke in a hoarse voice, "Why didn't you turn me in? I killed my parents and stole their money!"

"Maybe you should be going now. You wouldn't want to be late, now would you." and she ran off .

I didn't know what to think as I walked to the academy, instead I asked myself questions, 'Why didn't she turn me in? I don't even think she was frightened of me when she asked me to live with her.' All these thoughts swirled in my head, 'Will she ever tell me?'

I made it to the door and walked in the building, then to the class room door. I opened it without thinking and went inside, looking strait ahead.

I snapped out of my trance when I noticed two boys...kissing! I stared with my mouth open and laughed.

One boy with blond hair was squatting on the table Sasuke, a smart-ass, was sitting at.

Right when their lips made contact, they released with disgusted faces.

The blonde's name was Naruto. He was the class clown, always begging for attention. I think it was because he never had any parents. 'Lucky.'

Sasuke lost his parents and the rest of his clan. They were all murdered by the same person, but Sasuke somehow got away.

I hated him because he seemed to think he was better then everyone else, but only his fan girls thought that. I wasn't a fan girl, but he was handsome.

Sasuke's admirers didn't like the fact that their dream boy was kissed by a boy. Naruto was pulverized in a few minutes.

I spotted an empty seat next to...a kid.

I had no idea who he was, it was strange, 'Maybe he's new?' I thought as I walked towards him.

When I made it to the table, he looked at me. If it wasn't for the fact I always had a bored expression, he probably would have thought I was a fan girl. Eww.

"Hello," he said, "May I help you." He said in such a casual voice, it was breath taking.

"Um..." I started, "Is this seat taken?"

'What the hell is wrong with you?!' demanded a voice in my head.

"My brother is coming, but I doubt he will mind." said the God. 'Great!' I thought sarcastically, 'He has a brother!'

"Well I don't want to get on anybody's bad side." I turned to walk away, but another unfamiliar face. He walked around me and said to the other boy, "Hey, bro. What's up?"

"Nothing, Yasashiku."

"Who's this?" the one called Yasashiku gestured to me.

"I'm not sure, but she seemed kind enough to sit next to me. You don't mind do you?"

"Course not, Kenshin. There's an empty seat behind you." he smiled and took the chair behind his brother. I sat at the seat next to Kenshin.

"So...what's your name?" Yasashiku asked.

"All right kids settle down." said a voice that sounded like Iruka's. "Thank you. Now as you know, you will be picking you teams today. They will consist of three people; two boys and a girl.

"We have two surprise rookies today, Kenshin and Yasashiku."

'That explains a lot.' I thought.

"Okay, seeing how you are brothers, you will not be separated to a different cell. So the third person in your three-man cell will be," he looked at the piece of paper he was holding, "Roza." most people laughed.


	3. Getting to know Each Other

_Getting to Know Each Other_

'Perhaps I heard wrong.' I said to myself. But I couldn't be sure. I doubted the brothers knew anybody here, I didn't even tell them my name. 'I'll wait until the other cells are called.' I decided. But unfortunately they were called quite quickly:

"Team 6 will be Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Choji." Iruka said, "Team 7 will be Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke. And Team 8 will be Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba. Roza," He turned to me, "your cell will be 5." I looked down without answering him. 'I guess that means I am in their teams.'

"You will meet your Sensei in a few minutes." and he disappeared, show off.

Everyone else was talking excitedly about their times. "Hey," said a voice, I looked up to see Yasashiku looking at me, "I know this is a strange question, but who's Roza?"

"I am." I said without really thinking.

"Oh, okay, then. I'm Yasashiku and this is my twin brother, Kenshin."

"Twin?" I asked, again without thinking.

"We're fraternal," answered Kenshin.

"Oh, cool."

"Hello, Roza." said a familiar voice from behind me. I turned only my head to see Shino.

"Hi, Shino. How are you?" I said.

"I'm good. I've never seen your teammates before."

"That's because we're new." said Yasashiku. He opened his mouth to say more, but then looked at his brother and closed it.

"Oh, okay then. Nice to meet you then. Bye, Roza." and he walked away. 'What the heel was that about.' I asked myself. I expected Yasashiku to ask the same question aloud, or at least Kenshin, but they never did.

"Hey, are you guys cell 5?" asked a voice behind me. I turned all the way around this time to see an unfamiliar face.

"Yeah," said Kenshin, "Are you our Sensei?"

"That's right, my name's Ayumi. If you the will follow me, then we can get to know each other better."

All three of us followed Ayumi. She led us to an open field in the woods.

Actually it was more of a meadow. The sun shone on the right spots, the bubbling music meant there was probably a stream nearby, and the many invisible birds sang with it. It was, by far, the most beautiful place I've ever been.

Ayumi took a seat on the very green grass. Yasashiku sat cross-legged, Kenshin knelt down on both knees, and I sat down and pulled my knees to my chest. "Okay," said Ayumi, "seeing how I don't really know you, we will tell each other our names, who/what we dislike, like, our dream, and anything else we would like to add." she waited, "Okay...I guess I'll start: My name is Ayumi. I hate anyone who kills for pleasure, I like all my friends in my rank, and my dream _was_ to be a Jonin, but I guess dreams do come true. You go next." she pointed at Kenshin.

"I'm Kenshin. I only love my brother. I hate anyone who kills, even if there is a reason. My dream is..." he cut off and looked at his brother. Yasashiku nodded. "To kill whoever the hell killed our father." Kenshin continued, in a calm, but all the same, dangerous voice.

"Okay...how about you."

"I'm Yasashiku, and besides that, pretty much the same as Kenshin."

I felt bad for the twins, apparently they loved their father. I decided not to tell either of them about my childhood.

"Okay, you're the only one left."

"I'm Roza. I love the person who took care of me."

"Wouldn't that be your parents?" asked Yasashiku, but he quickly looked away shyly.

"No, they were killed and the house burt down."

"Oh...I'm sorry."

"Its okay, I hardly knew them."

'At least their good side' I thought, then continued, "I hate anyone who picks on the weak. My dream is to protect anyone who is precious to me, and..." I broke off, thinking, "That's it."

"You sure?" asked Ayumi, "It looked like you were about to say something else."

"Yep, that's it."

"Alright then," said Ayumi, "Today's training will be based on your surroundings, which is why I brought you here."


	4. The Training Session

"You will all be blindfolded," said Ayumi, "and I will strand you in different areas of the meadow. Your goal is to find each other without calling to each other loudly, or getting caught by the enemy."

"Who's the enemy?" I asked.

"I am" said Ayumi, "I will be walking, jumping, and running around trying to get one of you off guard. Any questions?" Yasashiku raised his hand, "Why do we need to be blindfolded?"

"Because on some missions, you will need to run strait into the night. You might get separated while in the presence of an enemy, and you wouldn't want to spoil your position." she took three blindfolds from her pocket and gave each of us one.

Kenshin helped Yasashiku put his on, and then Yasashiku blindly slipped on Kenshins blindfold. I tied the cloth and slipped it over my head, 'It seams like Yasashiku does good with his surroundings, the way he put on Kenshins blindfold. I think I got a good look at the meadow, so it should be a snap for me and Yasashiku, but I can't be sure about Kenshin.' I opened my eyes, but it was still dark.

I felt cold hands touch my shoulder. I jumped a little at how freezing they were. Then they guided me in different directions.

I tried to remember the twists and turns, but it was very difficult.

Finally we stopped and I heard Ayumi's voice say, "Meet me after training, alone" and I heard her walk away. 'I wonder what I did wrong.' I asked myself.

"Okay, is everybody ready?" asked Ayumi in a distance.

"Yes," I said, then I strained my ears to try and hear the twins, but they must have been so far away that I couldn't hear them.

"GO!"

I took out a kunai and felt around for a tree. I found one and stabbed it with my kunai, then I cupped my right ear around it and listened.

I heard some footsteps, walking a little awkwardly. I figured that must have been either Yasashiku or Kenshin. I listened harder and heard running footsteps. 'Must be Ayumi,' I thought.

I took out my kunai and walked toward the awkward footsteps. Every few trees I banged into, I would check to see if I was getting closer to the awkward footsteps.

The farther I went south, the closer I got. A few times, I heard Ayumi running towards me, and I would listen very closely.

Finally the footsteps were so close I could hear them without my kunai trick. I strained my ears and heard breathing, very faint from my distance, but still there. I whispered very softly, "Kenshin?"

The voice answered back, "Nope,"

"Yasashiku?"

"Yep. Roza?"

"Yeah."

"Good, have you heard my brother?"

"No, sorry."

"Come closer, Roza, we can't get separated now that we've found each other."

"Good point," I moved forward, my arms held out in front of me. Then they touched something warm, Kenshins hands. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, how were you able to find me?"

"A kunai trick, I'll tell you later."

"Okay"

"Hello?" said another voice, a boy's voice.

"Yasashiku?" me and Kenshin asked in unison.

"Yeah. Kenshin, Roza?"

"Yeah, we're here." I answered.

"Yasashiku, where we you when our parents were killed?" asked Kenshin, strange question.

"Um...I really don't think it is the time."

"No, I think it is,"

"I was...with you?" I couldn't feel Kenshins hands, and I heard a scream. It started out as a shriek, but then went deeper. I had been tricked. "Kenshin?!"

"Good job you two." said a woman's voice, "You both pass." then my blindfold slipped off.

I saw dots and colors. I blinked them away to see Kenshin and Ayumi. "What about Yasashiku?" Kenshin asked.

"Right here." said Yasashiku's voice, and he emerged from a nearby bush, still blindfolded.

"I guess you pass too, Yasashiku. All three of you managed to avoid the enemy and find each other. You may all go now."

Kenshin walked to Yasashiku and removed his blindfold, then they walked off, talking about something I wasn't interested in.

I waited until they were out of earshot and said to Ayumi, "You wanted to see me, Sensei"

"Yes I did. I am very curious, Roza, what did you want to add before?"

I thought for a moment, "Um...I really wouldn't like to say."

"You will not be dismissed until you tell me"

"Alright, I am really interested in bugs," I waited for laughter, there wasn't any.

"Here, I want you to take this," she took out a leather strap and gave it to me. It was black and rather thin. "What is it?" I asked.

"Its a chocker, with only a small amount of chakra, you can summon any bug you want to help with your battles." then she disappeared in a cloud of dust.

I looked at the chocker, wrapped it around my neck, and focused my chakra.

A few bugs flew and crawled towards me. They landed on my arms and crawled up my legs. I liked the tickly sensation.

"You seem to be interested in strange creatures, aren't you, Roza." said a voice. I turned around to see Shino lean up against a tree.


	5. Flashbacks on a Date

"Um...hi, Shino. What are you doing here?" I asked. 'Is he stalking me?'

"Well I noticed my bugs were acting a bit strange."

I cut him off, "Your bugs?"

He sighed, "Aburame Clan."

"Oh right, I knew that." The members of the Aburame Clan wield insects; I always thought it was pretty cool.

"But so were the other bugs around me," he continued, "Where did you get that chocker?"

"Ayumi-Sensei gave it to me"

"I see,"

I couldn't see where this conversation was going, so I let go of my focusing and the insects crawled, or flew, to Shino, though none landed on him.

We stared at each other for a long time. He broke the silence, "So what is it with your teammates."

"Well, I don't know where their from if that's what you mean."

"Really?"

"Why do you care anyway?" I was starting to get really annoyed, not good for my reputation.

"I wouldn't want any enemy's near yo...the village,"

"Oh, well I think their all right. What they did tell me was a bit personal, so forgive me for not telling you."

"No problem." we stared again. I broke the silence this time, "I guess I'll see you later then, Shino." I turned to walk away.

"Wait!" I stopped listened and waited. Nothing.

"Yes?" I asked, seriously hoping he left. He didn't.

"Would you like to go for a walk or something?"

It was a damn good thing he couldn't see my face. Because if he did, he probably would have thought it was on fire. Yes, that's how red my face was, I could feel it.

"Um...sure-okay yeah"

"If you don't want a walk, we could do something else, maybe."

"No, its fine," I answered so quickly, 'I totally feel like I'm going to die...or at least pass out. OH HELL!!!"

I heard him walk towards me. He was at my side in what seemed like a millisecond. I hate it when that happens.

I felt my face cooling down a bit while we walked. Once I was sure my face was the normal pale complexion, I looked at him.

I expected to see him collar over the tip of his nose like he normally had it, but now that I was closer, I could see most of his face, and frankly...he was really good looking.

I tried to remember a couple of times he's looked out for me, like how he suddenly wanted 'a walk.'

_6 years ago_

"_Roza? ROZA?! Are you serious? THAT'S your name?_

"_She defiantly looks like one!" _

"_If I had that name, I would have moved to a different planet!"_

"_I would kill myself!"_

_The circle around me was getting tighter, and I was crying harder. The insults dug into me as though my very flesh was being ripped, but by bare hands._

"_Yeah, Loser, why don't you just kill yourself?"_

_I couldn't take it anymore; I broke the circle and ran away as the kids laughed at me. _

_I cried as I ran. I didn't run to the school, I just ran. I didn't know where I was going, but I couldn't run anymore when I hit a strange part of the village. _

_I stopped, breathing heavily both from crying and running. "When I killed them, I didn't want to deal with any of this." I said, very heavily. Good thing too, for a noticed a boy nearby._

_He wore a white trench coat with a high collar, along with round tinted sunglasses. I was new at the academy, so I had no idea who this kid was._

"_Go away?!" I screamed, sick of the insults. I tried to run more, but I was so tired I went into total blackout..._

_Present: _

"Roza? Can you hear me?" said a voice.

"What?" I said, releasing my trance. I looked at Shino, lines in his face meant he was concerned. "What were you thinking about?" he asked.

"I was recalling the first time I met you. What happened when I passed out?"

"I took you to my mom, she was closest. She helped you regain consciousness.

"What do you mean by 'closest?'"

He shifted uncomfortably. "You were sort of...kind of...in the Aburame part of town."

"Seriously"

"...Yeah"

"Oh hell." I covered my mouth. I didn't normally swear in front of people. "Sorry."

"No problem, good thing my dad didn't see you though,"

"Why?"

"No reason. Oh I almost forgot, you forgot this on the desk this morning." he reached into his pocket and took out a grey notebook, brand new.

"My notebook!" I exclaimed as I took it, "Auntie gave it to me this morning, but reason why is a bit embarrassing." I blushed, but not as hard.

"Roza, your worried that I'll laugh at something that probably doesn't concern me, and yet your hanging out with a total," I thought I saw him twitch, "a total bug freak."

"Shino! You're not a bug freak!"

" I am. There are bugs inside me, Roza. Kiba used to call me bug freak for that very reason."

"But he was mostly kidding with you. He doesn't really mean it, your his best friend, and when you guys are together, I could swear you were related. Take it from me, you are defiantly _not_ a bug freak." I paused. 'At least I'm getting more comfortable talking to him. "How could you be so negative about yourself?"

"You're negative about yourself all the time."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember yesterday? The bug?"

I thought for a moment, then remembered. I wondered whether or not I should be angry or not.

"Don't be mad at me, please Roza. I hear you muttering to yourself all the time and sometimes I wish to know what your saying." he waited, so did I, "Yesterday you looked so bored I thought it would be useless."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"Oh not like that, Roza. I mean like I could have walked up to you and talked to you instead of...bugging you."

I giggled, "Nice choice of words, Shino." I thought I heard him laugh a little too, 'course it could have been just me.

"You shouldn't listen to Ino."

"And you shouldn't listen to Kiba." then I thought for a moment, "What if she's right though? No, listen to me Shino." I added firmly, for he opened his mouth as though to speak, he closed it and I continued, "What if I am a loser? How can I live with myself. My name is more of a curse."

"Roza, if everyone's name described their personality, then Ino would be a pig, Shikamaru would be a deer, and Choji would be a butterfly. And as you very well know; Ino practically starved herself, Shikamaru isn't a deer, if you know what I mean and Choji...I think you get the picture."

I laughed harder this time, "Your right Shino, thanks. Nobody has ever said that to me before."

"Your welcome."

Silence.

Minutes passed as we walked, not even looking where we were going.

"Well," said Shino, breaking the awkward silence yet again. "This was an interesting walk."

"I'll say."

"Perhaps we should get going?"

"Yeah, good idea"

"Auntie!" I exclaimed as I walked through the Inn doors.

"Hello Roza, how was your day?"

"It was awesome, Auntie. You'll never believe any of it!"

"I'll take my chances," she smiled, "Why don't you start from the beginning."

"Okay, so my new teammates are these two boys I've never seen before,"

"Ohh, what were their names?"

"Yasashiku and Kenshin, there twins..."

"Fraternal twins?"

"...Yeah, how did you know?"

"Um...because they just got rooms here at the Inn."

OH HELL!!!!!!


	6. Strange Questions and a Rescue Mission

"I thought I heard your voice, Roza." said a familiar voice behind me. 'Crap!!'

"Hi, Yasashiku" I said turning around to see him at the bottom of the stairway, "Nice seeing you here."

"Yeah, what are you doing in here anyway?"

"I live here." I said in a flat tone.

"Oh..." now he was looking uncomfortable, "um...Kenshin and I just got rooms here,"

"I know," I replied darkly. He stared and I made a foolish attempt to smile. I turned to Auntie and said, "I think there might be a pipe leak in my room that I might need help with, could you come take a look at it?"

"I'll come with you, Roza," said Yasashiku. 'Make up an excuse! Come on, Roza!!'

"Um...it might be a gas leak and I don't want you to get...um dead from a random explosion."

He bought to miserably, "Oh, okay, see you later then." and he left.

"Right," then I turned to Auntie, "Come to my room and I'll tell you about my day."

The reason why I didn't want to tell anybody, except Auntie, about my day was because I didn't want Yasashiku to think I was an idiot for going on a...walk with someone who was questioning him about his life. Also because I only trust Auntie, she can hold a secret to the death.

We entered my room and Auntie closed the door behind her and sat on the bed with me. "So, how was your day, Roza?"

"I think, but I can't be sure, I think I went on a...date with Aburame Shino."

I heard crickets, and I felt Auntie tense up a bit.

"Repeat please."

"I think I went on a date with Shino," I repeated

"Why do you only think this?"

"Because we only went for a 30 minute walk was all."

"Oh..." she seemed really uncomfortable about something.

"Anything wrong, Auntie."

"You said Aburame, right?"

Oh no!

"Yeah, is something wrong?"

"And you said 'Shino'...right?"

"Auntie! Spit it out!"

"Do you know his fathers name?"

"Um...not really,"

Now we were both tense.

"Is there something you're not telling me, Auntie?" I asked.

"Yes, there is. But I can't tell you now."

"Why..."

"Because," she pointed to the only window in the room, "I wouldn't want Yasashiku to know about anything."

I gasped and looked out the window. Yasashiku was on the window sill, staring at me almost murderously. For a moment I thought I saw his eyes flash a crimson red, the color of blood, but they went back to normal and he jumped from the sill and disappeared.

"Why didn't you tell me he was here?"

"Because," she didn't answer, she just left the room. But for some reason, I didn't stop her. I just sat on my bed and stared at my wall.

"There was a reason I didn't want to tell him, Auntie," I muttered to myself, "I didn't want there to be any drama. I seriously didn't want anyone to know." I felt like screaming, but my throat was already sore, mostly from dryness.

Then I noticed my hand was holding something. My notebook.

"You were right," I said, as I opened it and grabbed a pen from my desk, "I really do need someone to talk to." I wrote so hard and furiously, that holes in the paper formed and there were big black blotches. ((what she pretty much writes is here whole day))

_The next day:_

"Okay, target locked?" Ayumi asked through her microphone.

"Yep," Kenshin answered.

"Ready to attack," I said, "in three"

"two..."

"CHARGE!"

All three of us ran, and Kenshin grabbed hold of the...

"Cat?" I asked.

"Apparently." said Kenshin, "But he's really...OUCH!!" the cat bit his arm, leaving it bleeding. The random reflex of the cat caused Kenshin to lose his grip. The cat tried to run away, but I grabbed its tail and dangled it upside down.

Ayumi emerged from the shadow of a nearby oak tree, and said, "Mission accomplished, let's get back to Lord Hokage and tell him we found the cat."

As we walked, I had to hold the cat in a normal, baby like, position. The cat didn't like that in the first place, so he scratched me a butch of times in the face. Of course it hurt, but I learned to live. My warm blood dripped down my face and left a trail, but I doubted anyone would follow a trail of blood...or even see it.

"Thank you so much for finding my little kitty!" said an old lady back at Lord Hokage's house.

"Wow..."I said, "I don't blame the cat for running away,"

"Agreed," Kenshin said, Yasashiku merely jerked his head down.

'He hasn't even looked at me since yesterday.' I thought, sadly.

"Good job, team 5." said Lord Hokage as the old lady left the room with a squirming cat. "To be honest, Ayumi, that's the second time the cat escaped today!"

"Really? Who got it before?" Ayumi asked.

"Team 7, there on a C-rank right now, so I couldn't call them again." Iruka said, who was sitting a few seats from Hokage.

Yasashiku, speaking for the first time today, said, "We can do C-ranks?"

"Don't get any ideas, Yasashiku." Iruka said firmly. "I already regret sending Naruto on a C-rank. I don't need to get any more Genin in more danger then they have to be."

"I, for one, don't think it's really fair," I broke in. But I doubt anyone heard me, a hawk flew in the room carrying a scroll. It landed in front of Hokage, gave him the scroll, and flew out the same window it came threw.

Hokage read it while smoking his pipe. Then he dropped his pipe and it landed on the wooden floor.

"What is it, Lord Hokage?" Ayumi asked.

"Team 7..." he said.

Everyone was silent as they listened, but he didn't continue.

"Lord Hokage, are you okay?" Iruka asked, standing up and walking to him.

He read the letter by reading it over Hokage's shoulder, and with every word he seemed to read, he got paler.

"What happened?!" I exclaimed.

Hokage got out of his trance and said, "Team 7 is on an A-rank mission!"

"What?" Ayumi asked.

"The old man they were escorting lied. He had an assassin after him!"

Everyone was silent. There was nothing anyone could say, accept...

"We need to send someone after them!"

"But who?"

"ANBU Black Ops, you fart"

"Yeah but most of them are on a mission involving that new village, Sound."

"At least one of the ANBU teams has to be around,"

"No," said Hokage, "I sent them all on the mission," then he sighed, "Ayumi, are you and cell 5 ready for this?"

"What?" she said, "Didn't you just say that they went on an A-rank?"

"Yes I did, why?"

"Well, you weren't planning on sending more Genin on an A-rank, were you?"

"Not at first, but I think six Genin and two Jonin can get this mission done."

"Why don't you just let all the Jonin go?"

"Because the other Jonin are all on missions, you just came back from yours."

"But Lord Hokage..."

"Roza, Kenshin, Yasashiku, do you accept this mission?"

We were all silent. 'Wow, an A-rank. That's tough stuff.'

"If we do accept it, then where would we go?" asked Kenshin.

"Water Village,"((or something like that.))

All the color drained from Yasashiku's face, "Water Village?"

"Yes, is there a problem?" asked Hokage. ((I wonder what happened to Iruka))

Yasashiku looked at Kenshin. He nodded and said, "Me and my brother accept," he looked at me, "How about you, Roza?"

I thought for a moment and said, "I accept." I thought I heard someone gulp.

"I guess I have no other choice," Ayumi said, "If my students are willing to help team 7, then I'm not letting them go alone."

"Then it's settled," Hokage said, then he held out a scroll and Ayumi grabbed, "All the information you need is in that scroll, your mission is to find team 7 and, possibly kill the assassin. Any questions?"

"What do we do if team 7 is already dead?" I asked. Angry looks from the room told me the answer, "Right, avenge their death, got it."


	7. A Murderous Loser

Getting to the village was easy. We hardly hit any enemies, except the drunk guy who wanted to fight Yasashiku, I almost felt pity for the drunk, almost.

When we got off the boat, the village was completely empty, there was nothing.

I looked around as I walked. Then I saw something move in a dark alley.

"Hold up." I said. Cell 5 listened.

I walked into the alley, with the twins following behind.

"Hello?" Kenshin asked. Nothing. But something else stirred near me. I looked around, it was so dark.

Then I felt a sharp pain in my leg. "#$" I yelled. I looked at my leg and there were a few senbon sticking out of it. Ouch!

"Roza!" said a voice, though I couldn't tell whose it was. I dropped to one knee. 'I don't get it,' I thought, 'These damn needles don't do much damage!'

I grabbed them pulled and tried to hold back my scream of pain, didn't work out so well.

"I wouldn't move around to much, Girl." said a voice in the darkness.

"Who the #$ are you?" said the same voice that yelled my name.

"I really don't think it matters," he said.

I could see him now, he was all in black, and he wore a mask that covered...all of his face. But I wasn't in the mood to be examining some guy, who attacked me.

I focused my chakra to my chocker and in a millisecond; every bug known to man appeared. Spiders, ticks, ants, cockroaches, you name it! They crowded around the man, who jumped back. A couple of scorpions crawled up his leg and...That can't be healthy.

_2 minutes later: _

The man fell. I tried to stand up, but it didn't work out very well. I released my chakra focusing and the bugs scattered away.

"Roza! Are you okay?"

"Let her relax a second, that move might have taken a lot out of her."

"But it's not supposed to."

"Well, I don't know what to tell you then."

The voices were familiar, but I forgot everything, even my own name. I looked at the senbon in my hand and tipped them upside down. A purplish liquid dripped out of the end. I tired to speak but all I managed to say was; "Shit." and I passed out.

'What happened? Where am I?' I make a weak attempt to open my eyes. It was very dark at first, and then I saw a bit more color.

"I think she's waking up, Ayumi-sensei!"

"Wow, it's amazing what that stuff can do."

"Yeah...now I'm scarred for life."

"Same here."

"Wha appened?" what I had tried to say was 'What happened?'

I tried to sit up, but someone pushed me back down. It was Ayumi.

"Rest," she said uncomfortably.

Then I tasted this strange liquid in my mouth, it was good, but really...strange. "What did you give me?"

Ayumi shifted uncomfortably, "I think it's best if you don't find out."

"I'm already half dead, just tell me."

"That's not funny, Roza."

"I'm not trying to be funny, Ayumi. What the hell did you feed me?"

"Um...well, I learned that blood was bad for the body, you know, for consuming it. But you coughed some blood and just swallowed it. But there wasn't anything wrong with you, your breathing returned to normal and the poison dripped out of your wound."

I swallowed, "Ayumi, does that mean I'm blood-thirsty"

"I really wouldn't like to talk about it."

"Where are Yasashiku and Kenshin?"

"I'm here," said Kenshin.

"Where's Yasashiku?" I still felt bad about yesterday.

"He sort of ran off," Kenshin said.

"Why? What's wrong with him?"

"He doesn't really like it when people tend to drink blood. That's what the murderer did before he killed our parents."

"He drank his own blood?" I...was...FLABBERGASTERED!! ((I like that word smile))

"Well, it's hard to explain."

"Did she wake up?" said a different voice. Yasashiku's voice.

"Yeeeah..." said Ayumi and Kenshin together. "Later." and they left the room.

I tried to sit up, my leg hurt a little. I looked at it and saw there were 3 holes in it.

"Talk about being 'holy'" I said.

"Okay, that joke was so bad; I think I just threw up in my mouth a bit." he said, grimly.

"Well sorry if I'm not always comical."

"Whatever." he said, and he left the room.

I could tell they asked someone if they could stay at their house to help me out. I tried to stand up, and was surprised to find out I was stronger then normal. I walked to the door and opened it.

Ayumi, Kenshin and Yasashiku were in another room gathered around a table. They were talking, but I could hardly hear them. I got closer and listened as I leaned against the wall, what I heard...

"She's a murderer, Ayumi!"

"Shut up! She'll hear you!"

"I don't care," it was Yasashiku. "Murderers drink blood, I've seen it happen. I was there!"

"Yasashiku! You better shut it if you know what's good for you!" Kenshin said that.

"All I'm saying is that she can kill anyone she wanted to."

"It doesn't matter." Ayumi's voice was...dangerous. "Maybe she just...I don't know...has a disease."

"Trust me, Ayumi; the only way blood can heal is if the person has killed."

"I don't know...maybe it was at that moment, she probably killed that guy."

"No, a bug did it. The only way blood can heal is if they killed with no help. She's dangerous."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. 'Maybe I should tell them. That way Yasashiku won't think so badly of me. But if I tell him, he'll probably hate me more! Either way, I'm still hated.'

"If she was dangerous, she would have killed us already."

"Maybe she..."

"I don't want to hear it anymore, Yasashiku! You will not tell any of this to Roza, if you do we will have a serious problem." Ayumi's tone was murderous. I had to step in, but I couldn't. I just stood there against the wall, hot angry tears dripped down my face; that was new.

I ran back to the room and searched it, looking for. "Hear it is." I opened the window and jumped out. We still had a mission, and I needed to get this damn conversation out of my mind.

#$"I felt a sharp pain in my leg. . s following behind. gh I' to find team7 and shouldn'il, but I doubted anyone would follow


	8. Crossing a Demon

What better way to find lost comrades in a village you've never been to then to knock on every door and ask, "Hello, I'm looking for a kid in an orange jump suit with blond hair." I chose Naruto's description because how many times do you see a kid walking down the street wearing orange, and with blue.

Nobody answered my knocks. It was as though nobody was home. But there was no way the whole town was out.

I walked on, and then I remembered the scroll. Ayumi read it to us before we left. I tired to recall everything she read to us, though I wasn't giving her 100 of my attention.

"_Okay, so the old man team 7 had to escort was a bridge builder. Seems simple, we just need to find the bridge and we'll find team 7." Ayumi had said._

"Find a bridge, got it." I said to myself. And I began to wander again, hoping for a sign or something to lead me there.

Then I heard yelling in a distance, as though someone was in pain. The yell was coming from my left, so I ran down the street to my left. The street I had already gone down.

When I made it to the end there was something both spectacular, and very frightening. I wasn't at the bridge that was certain; instead I was back where I started my solo journey, at some random person's house.

The house was almost in ruins and the only one standing was Yasashiku. He had his back on me and was shaking, almost in...pain.

I made my way towards him, "Yasashiku? Are you okay?"

He turned slightly, very slightly. But what I saw, I can't put in words.

"Your eyes!" I whispered, for that was all I could manage in my shock. Yasashiku's eyes were red, not the bloodshot eyes you get from lack of sleep, these eyes were that of a demon.

But there was no way Yasashiku could be a demon. Maybe it was somebody else I had got in the way of, which was probably worse. But no...that was Yasashiku, I could just tell.

He turned all the way around and to face me. It was very scary seeing him like this. Eyes red, and his pale skin made it even scarier. What I didn't notice until that very moment was what was _inside_ his eyes. I felt like I could see his whole life, though I didn't have time to see his background through his eyes because a kunai almost hit me strait between the eyes. Luckily, I got out of the way in time.

"What was that for?" I yelled, for Yasashiku through it at me. But he didn't answer my question, instead he ran at me with such speed that I couldn't see him.

He forced his shoulder against my stomach and I went flying into a tree. I groaned, the impact was so hard that I was surprised I didn't puke or anything. He ran at me again. 'This isn't Yasashiku.' I thought, 'I have to change him back to the real Yasashiku.'

"Yasashiku." I yelled weakly, but he didn't stop. He hit me harder against the tree and I went through it. "I'm sorry." I whispered. Then I coughed blood and expected to pass out.

But I didn't. The blood went down my throat as though I was drinking water. It was pleasant. I felt all my wounds healing and my strength coming back to me. I stood up feeling pump and ready to fight. I looked at him and was surprised.

His eyes weren't as bright red as they were before, and there wasn't so much pain in them either. He looked at me, his lips twitching a little. I felt some of my new strength leaving me, probably because I wasn't using it.

We looked at each other, then the pain returned to his eyes and a kunai hit my shoulder. I screamed in pain and dropped to my knees. 'No! He was coming back! I saw him in those eyes!'

I tried to rip out the kunai, but with every centimeter I pulled, the more painful it got. "Yasashiku! Please!" I begged for my friend back, not this demon. "I really am sorry, don't be like this." And I began to cry.

I knew it was useless, I knew it wouldn't work, but there was nothing else I could do. Except maybe waste my breath talking to this...demon!

I cried harder without looking at him. The kunai seemed to make the wound worse, then I realized my hand was pushing it in, going deeper into my shoulder. I let go and cried into my hands.

I looked up at him and noticed he wasn't there, that actually made me feel a bit better. I took a deep breath and stopped crying. Then I felt a sharper pain in the same shoulder as the kunai was in. I couldn't take this mental and physical agony anymore. I passed out.

"I seriously, honestly, totally, completely am sorry, Roza! Just please open your eyes!!" and there was sobbing.

I opened my eyes with all the strength I had left. It was still dark, but damp, though I did hear more talking...and sobbing.

"You did a number on her, I doubt she will wake up for a long time." I didn't know this voice, I've never even heard it before.

"Please..." I knew that was Yasashiku, although he was the one who was crying. That wasn't right.

"Yasashiku." I tried to say, but I couldn't even hear myself. I tired again, "Yasashiku!" it was faint, but still there.

"Roza!" the darkness went away and I saw his face, his tear-stained, normal looking face.

He was holding what looked like a damp cloth. "Yasashiku?" I asked

"I'm here!"

"Are you okay?"

He chuckled a little, it was nice to hear someone laughing.

"I would have thought he'd be asking you that question," said the unfamiliar voice. Then I saw an unfamiliar face...actually only half of it.

I tried to sit up, but then I fell back down, I couldn't remember anything that had happened. And what better way to find out then to ask: "What just happened?" nobody was talking now. Yasashiku stopped crying, though I could no longer read his expression.

"I repeat; What the hell just happened.?!" I was frantic.

"Can I talk to her alone, Kakashi?"

"Sure, I'll go tell the others that she's okay."

"Thank you." And the one called Kakashi left.

Yasashiku stared at me, and I stared back. The silence was unbearable. Luckily, Yasashiku broke it. "You're my friend, right?"

"Of course!"

"And no matter what, you'll always be my friend, correct."

"Yes," I couldn't see where this was going. I just wanted to know how I got this way, not if Yasashiku is my friend or not.

He took a deep breath and opened his mouth.

"ROZA!! YOUR OKAY!!" said a very annoying voice.

Three people knelt by my bed. Kenshin was there, looking paler then ever, but not speaking, and two other faces; Naruto and Sakura. 'That's surprising!' I thought.

"We were very worried you weren't going to wake up." said another voice in the background, I knew it was Ayumi's.

"Well, I guess you don't need to worry anymore!" said Naruto, excitedly.

"Naruto, shut up! Your loud voice is going to make her sicker!" said Sakura, then she punched him in the head...ouch!

While Naruto and Sakura were arguing about...something, the twins looked at me. Kenshin hadn't said a word, but he looked at his brother and asked, "Did you tell her?"

"I was going to," his brother answered.

"So you didn't then?"

"Nope,"

"Tell me what?" I broke in.

"I'll tell you on the way back home,"

"Why not now?"

"Because..." he jerked his head toward the arguing couple. ((Yes...couple!))

"Right, okay."

"Alright you two, break it up!" said Kakashi.

"He/She started it." said Naruto and Sakura in unison.

"I don't care," he said firmly, "Roza needs to rest more before we return home tomorrow,"

"We can leave now!" I said, making another attempt to sit up, though I didn't have that much luck.

"No, Roza," said Ayumi, "You must rest, we'll leave you alone now. Come on Kenshin, Yasashiku."

"Yeah, Sakura, Naruto, come on. Sasuke's waiting."

'Ewww!! Sasuke!!' I thought before, closing my eyes.


	9. A Nightmare and a Kiss

The next day cell's 7 and 5 walked back to Konoha together. I was feeling well enough to walk, but apparently someone needed to look at my shoulder. Like I really cared.

I was a little uncomfortable while we walked. One reason was because Sasuke was with us, and I hated him, a lot. Another reason was because I was a little worried about the twins. Shadows under their eyes told me they hadn't been sleeping well, in other words, they had more to tell me.

All they did tell me was that the house we stayed at the first time I passed out was the brothers. The fact that my teammates used to live in a whole other village didn't surprise me that much. But what did bother me was that they looked like they didn't want to tell me anything about their pass life.

When we finally made it to the village, we went strait to Lord Hokage's tower. When we made it there Iruka was frantic, "Thank God you are all alright." I imagined him giving us a big hug...now I'm scarred for life.

"Well, we couldn't have finished the mission without team 5, thanks for sending them." said Kakashi. 'That was a strange comment.' I thought to myself, for I was out during the whole fight between team 7, some of team 5, and the assassin, who apparently died. 'I hate my life.' At that very moment, my shoulder throbbed, and I twitched.

"Anything wrong, Roza?" Hokage asked.

"I'm fine," I answered back.

"She's got a deep wound," said Ayumi, "I'd like someone to have a look at it."

"Well then you may take her to the hospital, Ayumi."

"No!" I yelled, "I'm fine! It's just a cut! I'll live!" the last thing I needed was to be in a hospital, I hated them, they mostly hold dead people anyway.

"You will go whether you want to or not, Roza!" screamed Iruka.

Ayumi broke in calmly, sort of, "Come on, Roza. I don't want to argue so let's go and get it over with."

I gave up; "Fine," then I followed her out the door and to the hospital. I pretty much pouted the whole way.

When we finally made it, the nurse gave me a small container, "Just put this cream on your wound twice a day, and it shouldn't get infected."

"Thanks," I muttered as I took it from her hands and put it in my pocket. 'I guess it could've been worse.

"But you will have to stay the night," she sounded uncertain.

I didn't even bother to ask why, instead I just thought, 'That's my cue,' then I said "F that," and I jumped out the open window.

When I landed I walked towards the Inn. I thought and walked, mostly about this wound. Questions formed in my mind of their own accord; 'Who attacked me anyway? And where were Kenshin, Yasashiku and Ayumi? Yasashiku seemed upset about something before I woke up.' I asked myself these questions, then I said out loud, "I really need to get a life."

"Yes, you do!" said a female voice from behind me.

"Hello, Ino Pig." I turned around to see the one person who has made my life almost hell, almost because I've actually been to hell.

She seemed angry at the fact that I had insulted her, "You better watch yourself, Loser."

"I'm shaking in my boots," I said in a bored voice.

"You better be!"

I waited, "Listen, unless you're going to bore me to death, I'm just going to leave. You're not even worth my time."

"Excuse me?!" she shrieked.

"You were never worth my time. You used to call me names, and for a while, I believed you. But now I know who I am, and it's not a loser. The real losers are the ones who think there better then everybody else just because you put down the ones you hate." I turned and walked away, leaving her to just look at me.

I made it to the Inn and went strait to my room. I looked around until I saw my notebook. There were both happy and disturbing moments I felt like writing down. But I just didn't know how to put it words. I guess my little adventure was just one of those things where you have to be there to know what's going on.

I gave up on my notebook and just flopped on my bed, accidentally hitting my bad shoulder.

At that point I remembered the cream, 'No use ending up in the hospital for some so trivial.' I thought as I stood up, went to my mirror and removed the bandages. Once I finished, I looked at the hole. If the kunai had been pushed in more, it would have gone through. There was even a tiny pink dot on the other side of the wound.

I took the container of cream out of my pocket and opened it. The cream was an innocent white color. I dipped my finger in it, "Soft, easy to manage." I spread the cream over my wound. It stung like crazy, but all I did was groan.

I didn't know if I should have put my bandages back on, but I wanted the wound to breathe, "Not like I'm going anywhere important...or in public."

At that moment, someone knocked at my door, "Who is it?" I asked. Nothing.

I crossed the room and opened my door, nobody was there. Then something caught my eye, something on the floor. I looked down and found a folded piece of paper. I picked it up, looked around again, and then closed my door.

I opened the note, inside was a poem:

'_Roses are red,_

_Violets are blue._

_Meet me for tea _

_and I'll tell you who.'_

The poem was a bit cheesy for my taste, but it was still creative. I looked at the bottom of the page for a signature, but there was only a small dot, as though someone wanted to write their name.

"Guess I can't be rude then." I said, then I got new bandages and wrapped my wound. I ran a brush through my hair as I walked to the door. I put my brush on the table and flew out my door, only to bump into Auntie. "Oh, I'm so sorry."

"It's quit alright dearie. Are you going anywhere?"

"Yeah, someone left me a poem telling me to go for tea with them."

"Ohhh do you know who it was?"

"No."

"Well, tell me who when you get back." she seemed uncomfortable about something.

"Anything wrong, Auntie?"

"I was going to talk to you about something, but I guess it can wait 'til later."

"Oh, okay then. See you later."

"Good-bye!" she said as I ran downstairs.

As I walked to the only tea place I ever knew, I thought about the poem. 'I wonder who gave it to me. I don't know any good poets...or anyone who'd like to go for tea.'

I made it to the tea place (not a clue what it's called). I looked around, but there wasn't anybody there I knew.

"May I help you, Miss?" asked a lady who seemed to work there.

"Um, I was supposed to meet someone here."

"Do you know who?"

I shook my head and smiled sheepishly.

"Well, we have a saved table for two and there's a note with a rose on one of the seats. The note says 'Roza.' Is that your name?"

"Yes, it is."

"Okay then, follow me."

She led me to a table, and sure enough, on one seat there was an envelope with a red rose on it. The rose was my favorite flower.

The worker left me alone as I picked up the rose. I put it near my nose and inhaled deeply. The tickly feeling on my cheek was pleasant, it almost made me laugh.

Then I remembered the note. I picked it up and opened it. The note inside was the same writing as that of the writing on the poem. I looked at the bottom of the page and saw a signature; Aburame Shibi.

'That must be a relative of Shino's' I thought. Then I read the note; there were only a few words, and for some reason, they hurt;

'Stay away from my son!'

"WTF!" I said out loud. Everyone looked at me and went quiet.

I didn't even apologize, I just walked out, hardly even noticing the note was still in my hand.

I didn't bother to go back to the Inn, instead I tried to remember where the meadow was. but there wasn't much luck, so I just walked into a nearby forest, hoping nobody would hear my rage.

"Da' F- did I do to him anyway?!" I asked myself out loud. "I don't even know him. why is he already against me?" Then, another question formed, "Why did he give me the rose?"

I left it at the tea place because at first I thought it was some cruel joke.

I stopped walking and leaned against a tree. "Why does it seem like everyone is against me?" I slid down the tree and tears started in my eyes, I shook my head, "Don't cry, Roza, its useless." I gave up crying when I realized it didn't help with anything. "Why didn't he just tell me to my face?"

I didn't know how long I sat there, against the tree; seconds, minutes, hours, days. But I knew I must have slept at some point because I opened my eyes and found out it was dark. "Crap." I stood up, stretched and looked around for a familiar landmark. There wasn't one, "I hate getting lost." I decided to just go north, but it seemed at though I wasn't going anywhere.

I took out my kunai to mark a tree, that way I would where I have been and where I haven't. But right when I struck the tree, blood gushed out.

I jumped back and yelled. The blood was pouring like crazy. I looked around, hoping to find someone.

I then saw a dark figure, I ran towards it, not even caring who it was.

I got closer, but it looked like he was running to me instead. I recognized the clothing; skulls and bones, "Yasashiku!" but I noticed his eyes. They were red, and glowing, they freighted me, mostly because it seemed like this already happened before.

"How could you?" he asked. At least, I think it was him; the voice was so deep and deadly.

"W-What do you mean?" I stuttered.

"You killed your parents, didn't you, Roza?"

"How did you know about that?!" my eyes went wide.

"It's obvious," his eyes flashed brighter, "You didn't feel pity on them did you?" He lifted his hand; his nails were more like claws. He slashed a tree and again the blood was gushing. He walked towards me slashing trees and making puddles of blood.

"You know I hate those who kill."

I cringed away, suddenly afraid of blood. "Go away!" he got closer. "Please!" I backed away.

"Are you going to kill me? When you're bored or a little afraid of us? I can't let that happen, Roza?"

I tripped over a log and fell backwards over it. Yasashiku was closer, almost hovering over me. I got up and ran, but now I knew I wasn't going anywhere. I turned around while I ran; he was so close he could have killed me right then and there. I closed my eyes and opened them again.

I lifted my head without even waiting for my eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness of my surroundings. Then my lips made contact with...something.

My eyes adjusted and I noticed a pair of round sunglasses right in front of my eyes.

I broke my lips apart.

"Shino!" I exclaimed, already forgetting most of the nightmare. "What the hell?!"

"You're the one who kissed me!" he sounded awkward.

"Well...why were you so close?"

"I was about to wake you up!"

"Do you seriously need to be that close though?"

"You should thank him," said a woman's voice I didn't recognize. I looked around and saw a lady. She was young, but there was something ancient in her eyes. "He found you in the forest, according to him, you looked like you were having some sort of seizure." she looked like she wanted to continue, but Shino looked at her, which probably told her that was enough.

"Where am I anyway?" I asked, not recognizing the room I was in.

"You're...in the hospital." answered Shino, he sounded almost sorry.

I groaned, 'I hate hospitals!'


	10. Explanations in a Hospital

I just had to move back a bit ;)

* * *

I groaned, 'I hate hospitals!'

"What happened? You were yelling and screaming." asked the woman, who could only be Shino's mother.

"I...had a nightmare?" I said this in question form because I didn't want them to think of me being a waste of time.

But instead Shino seemed interested, "What was it about?"

"I can't really remember."

"Could you try?" he asked eagerly.

"Okay," I closed my eyes and tried to recall my nightmare. But evil red eyes were looking at me. I opened them and yelled.

"Roza! What happened?!" asked Shino, rather concerned.

"I keep seeing these...these eyes. Red eyes. I feel like their watching my every move."

"Maybe you should stay then." said Shino's mom. She sounded as though she wanted to leave, and quickly.

"I thought I had to stay here anyway."

Shino "Well, yeah...I guess"

"How were you able to find me anyway? I couldn't have been yelling that loud."

"Roza, honey we really need to leave. The nurse said we couldn't stay long."

"How did you find me?" I asked again.

"...Mom?"

"No, Shino!"

"What?"

"I'm sorry, Roza, but we can't...we really should go."

"Can I just stay a bit longer? I won't talk."

Shino's mother thought for a moment. Then she said, "I'll be watching." and she left.

"Shino...what's going on?"

"I can't tell you, it's forbidden."

"Why? What does it have to do with me anyway?"

"I don't know if it does or not." he stood from the chair he was sitting in, walked to the door, and locked it. Then he returned to his seat, and said, "But it can't hurt to tell you." someone banged on the door.

"Your mother had some problems with the Aburame Clan a while back, but mostly with my father, Shibi."

"Wait, what do you mean 'my mother.'" I interrupted, "She died years ago."

"What about that Inn keeper?"

"When my parents died, she took care of me. What do you mean by problems?"

"Wait, do your not related to that Inn keeper in anyway."

"Not that I know of, no." I heard the confusion in my own voice. But Shino just sighed in relief.

"How is that a bad thing?" someone banged on the door again. I looked at it.

"I can't tell you, I'm sorry."

"Well, if you have a problem with my family, then I think I have the right to know!"

"What do you mean 'family'" he asked, looking uncomfortable.

"Well, I've lived with her for half my life; doesn't that make her my family?"

"I...I really can't tell you. My father will kill me for even mentioning it to you!"

"You got that right," said a deep voice outside the door. Shino went very pail, and for some reason, I didn't think it was the fact that the door opened even though it was locked.

A man walked in, he looked very angry.

Shino "Oh...hello, father. How was your day?"

"Don't start with that! I need to talk to Roza privately; it seems I owe her an explanation."

"Yes father," and with one last look at me, Shino left and his father took his seat.

Silence.

"Why did you send me the note?" I asked, knowing it was him.

"Because..." he didn't have an answer. But I waited. "I...had a problem with Shiruvya a while back. Its forbidden to even speak of it."

"Who's Shiruvya?"

"I think its 'Auntie' in your case?"

"Ohh! Well, then what about the rose? And the poem? You made a foul out of me!"

"I knew you wouldn't go alone if I just told you to go for tea."

"Why alone?"

"Why do you think I asked to speak to you alone now?"

I didn't have an answer.

"Because I'm going to break a lot of rules now, Roza. I actually do think you have the right to know. Mostly because I owe you an explanation, as I mentioned before."

I waited, he continued, "Shiruvya wasn't always that nice Inn keeper, she used to be very desperate."

"What do you mean?" I cut in.

"She did anything to please anyone in path. She did this because she didn't listen to her friend about something, and he ended up dieing the next day. People abused their power to make her do anything they wanted her to do.

"Well, one day she ran into an enemy of Konoha while he was in another village. The enemy pretended to be her friend. Then when the time was right, he told her that I had stolen something of his. Shiruvya believed him and took something that the Aburame clan was keeping in case of a village emergency."

"What was it?"

"Forgive me, for I can't tell you."

'Wow...he sounds exactly like Shino; old-like English.'

"But if you knew it wasn't her fault, then why did you get mad at her?"

"Because she wouldn't return it to us. When she gave it to the enemy, he ran off with it. He can now control any animal he wants, even insects."

"Who was it?" I asked angrily. 'How dare he use Auntie!"

"That information is forbidden by Lord Hokage himself; I cannot tell you."

"Whoever it was, why didn't he just steal it himself instead of making someone else do his dirty work. That doesn't make him strong, only a coward in my eyes."

"Roza this man has killed many people. He is top of the bingo book; S-rank. Trust me, he is no coward." Shibi said firmly.

"But what does this have to do with me?"

"Because, for the wrong reasons, I've hated you." those words hurt worse then the note he sent me.

"Why me? Even if it was Auntie's fault, it doesn't suddenly make it my fault." I was angry now, very angry, he saw that.

"But I thought she was your mother and-"

Without even thinking, I blurted out the biggest secret of my life, "I KILLED MY PARENTS!!" I covered my mouth, horrified at my own stupidity.

"Excuse me?" he asked calmly.

"Um...nothing?" I turned away, hoping he wouldn't see my eyes, you can always see the truth in someone's eyes.. 'Roza you bastard! Now you're totally screwed!'

"Why did you kill them?" he seemed interested, just like Shino, but I would think about that later...if there would be a later.

"What are you talking about?" I lied horribly.

"You just told me that you killed your parents; why did you kill them? I won't tell."

"How can I trust that?"

"Because you have nobody else to talk about it, don't you?"

Shibi was right, horribly right. For 6 years I was holding in that secret, and it was killing me on the inside.

But I couldn't tell Shibi! I hardly knew him and I didn't know if he was trustworthy or not, seeing how he just told me some forbidden information.

"You can't keep stuff like that bottled inside you, it's not healthy."

I chuckled at his words, he seemed surprised, "What?"

"Those were almost the same exact words Auntie told me before she gave me my notebook."

"Notebook?" he sounded curious.

"I write down stuff that I don't feel like talking about to anybody else, sort of like a diary."

"Did you write about your parents' death?"

" No...Why do you ask?"

"No reason, just out of curiosity."

"Oh..." this conversation wasn't going anywhere, was it?

Shibi sighed, "I know your there, Shino." the door opened and in walked Shino, his head down in shame.

"Son, I know you have been listening to our little conversation, but I do not blame you. But I will blame you -and I'm sure Roza will too- if you tell anyone anything about what was said AT ALL today, do you understand?"

"Yes, Father, I wasn't planning on telling anyone anyway."

"Well Roza, Shino and I will now leave; you've seemed to have a long day." I saw him eye my shoulder; it was then I remembered there was a wound there.

"Right..." awkward.

"Let's go, Shino. We should tell the nurse Roza has awakened."

"Yes father." and both father and son left.

A few minutes later, an elderly nurse walked in looking very annoyed.

"If it wasn't for that nice young man, you wound would have gotten even worse."

"But I put the cream on it."

"Yeah, but it was infected before you put on the cream." she said this as though it was obvious.

"If you would have told me that when I came earlier this morning, I wouldn't have left."

"You should have stayed anyway!" she snapped.

"Listen Lady! Just because you're not afraid of hospitals, doesn't mean you have to be a B- about it." I snapped back. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I'm the nurse."

"Yes, I know. I mean why did you come here? A shot or something?"

"I need to take some blood." she held up the basket she was holding. Inside there were some needles and cloths.

"Well, go ahead." I held out my good arm; needles never bothered me.

She put the basket on the bedside table and took out a clear, bullet-shaped container with a needle at the end. She cleaned the spot where she would remove my blood and stuck in the needle with more force then necessary. But I didn't react, I didn't even blink.

I watched the container fill with my own blood. It was the right color; crimson, so there couldn't be anything bad in my bloodstream, not like there should be.

When the nurse finished removing my blood, she cleaned the small dot and left. 'Wow, I've only been awake for a few minutes and already I feel like leaving.' But I knew I couldn't leave, not with an infection.

* * *

I stayed in the hospital for only one more day, "Good thing you heal fast, Roza." Ayumi said while she walked me out the hospital doors.

"Yeah...lucky." It seemed as though the entire previous day had hit me during the night; the dream, the explanation, everything was just cramped in my head.

I was very skittish during the D-rank missions, mostly because now I was afraid of Yasashiku. Every time he got close to me, just to even talk, I cringed away. The nightmare was very freighting.

Seeing how my random injury worried Iruka, cell 5 only did dished at some lady's house, baby-sit some three year olds, pick weeds from a garden, and save a cat from a tree. They were dull, but the boredom kept me thinking, mostly about nothing.

Once all the missions were done, Ayumi said good-bye to us and left. Kenshin and Yasashiku left, without even saying good-bye, but I didn't care, I had a lot to think about.

I made my way to the Inn, wondering whether or not I should tell Auntie about my whole conversation with Shibi. I decided to not tell her, unless she brings it up...which is doubtful.

"Hello Roza! How are you? I heard you were in the hospital but I didn't have time to go visit you." said Auntie as soon as I walked through the doors.

"I'm fine, and it's okay, you didn't miss much." I smiled.

"What do you mean by much?" she asked eagerly.

"Oh...nothing, they just took some blood samples and put this liquid on my injury, they told me with it, most of the infection would be gone within the night as long as I spread this cream on it twice a day."

"Do you have the cream?"

"Yeah, it should be in my room."

"Okay then,"

We don't normally talk much because there was nothing to talk about.

"See you around then, Auntie." and I walked upstairs to my room.

I walked down the hall and bumped into someone. "Oh, I'm sorry." I muttered and continued walking with out even seeing who it was, though I soon found out.

"Roza?" it was Yasashiku.

I stopped walking and I felt the color drain from my face. He continued, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." my voice was hoarse.

"Are you sure?" I heard him walking towards me. I couldn't move, I just stood there with my back to him.

"Yes, now please don't come any closer."

"W-why?" instead of sounding confused, he sounded scared, and not the concerned type of scared.

"I...you..." I didn't want to blurt out that he was a demon for two reasons. One: there were nosey people in the Inn that were probably hearing everything we were saying. And two: I couldn't be absolutely sure that he was a demon.

"You can say it. I won't get angry."

I didn't know what to do, so I just ran.


	11. Im Not Afraid Anymore!

Yasashiku POV:

I just watched her run, run away from me. Now it was finally clear, 'She knows! She knows about this demon! I must tell Kenshin!' and with that I walked swiftly to our room, we couldn't afford two separate rooms.

When I got there, Kenshin was sharpening his katana with the normal rock; he does that normally, "Kenshin...?" I didn't know how to tell him. By about a minute, he was older, but it seemed as though he was at least a year older, he was so mature. He stopped his rock, looked at me and said, "What is it, brother?" and he normally doesn't call me by my name. "I...think she knows about the demon."

He merely stared at me, and then continued with his work, "You can't be sure about that."

"but she just ran away from me, Kenshin! That was the first time I have spoken to her since..." I couldn't finish.

"You can't blame yourself; I should have known better then to play with your emotions."

"Yeah, but I need serious anger management classes or something. But Ayumi said she hit her head so hard that she probably couldn't remember any of it!"

"How the hell could anyone forget that experience?! I know I never will." stopped the rock and pointed at his chest, where I knew he had a scar, a scar that was my responsibility. "Right..." was all I could manage.

He continued running the rock across his sword. The sound used to give me goosebumps when he first got it, but you learn to get used to it, after a while.

Kenshin "I'm sure she was just in a hurry to get somewhere."

"Maybe...I don't know."

"Did you see her face?"

"No, her back was turned."

"Well, maybe she forgot to spread that crappy cream this morning and she didn't want to end up in the hospital again."

"I don't know..."

"Don't worry, brother, I promise she doesn't know."

"Will you swear it?" he knew what I meant. He stopped sharpening and looked at me, "No...I can't." we were silent for a long time.

Roza POV:

I slammed the door and put my back to it, huffing and puffing. Then I slid into a sitting position. 'This sucks! I can't keep doing this!' then I sighed, and said out loud, "I bet its killing him even more. It was just some stupid dream, probably not even true. And the fact that it was familiar, dream illusions! I _should_ go apologize but it would seem very cheesy.

That night I climbed onto the roof of the Inn, thinking. Mostly about tomorrow, I didn't know what it was, but I thought that tomorrow might have been important. 'Course, it could only be me.' I thought, as I looked at the moon.

I was bored, but not tired. I felt like running, so I stood up and ran to the edge of the roof and jumped to the one next door; not a speck of dust stirred. I felt the cool breeze on my face; it felt good to be getting some nice, cold, fresh air. I ran, and ran, and ran, then I closed my eyes, big mistake.

I saw those flashing red eyes. I opened them and missed the next jump! Luckily, the fall wasn't long, but I did land the wrong way and twist my ankle a bit. "Ow," I groaned softly. 'Maybe I should go back to bed.' I thought as I stood up and walked the pain off.

I climbed to my room window, which I always left open and went inside. Without even changing out of my clothes, I went under my covers, but I was afraid to sleep.

I looked at my clock, 'I'll be waking up in about 6 more hours...might as well get ready.'

But I didn't even move, I was just looked at my clock and watched the minutes go by. Soon minutes turned to hours, with still no sign of sleepiness.

When I only had about three hours left, I stood up and brushed my hair. You might think that I'm obsessed with my hair, well then you are DEAD WRONG!

Right when I put my brush, I heard a soft tapping at my window. I turned back to my bed were the only window was located and, even though it was still dark, I saw a hawk with a scroll in its beak.

I crossed the room and opened the window. The magnificent bird flew into my room, dropped the scroll on my head, and flew back out.

I bent down, picked up the scroll that bounced off my head, and read through it, twice:

_Roza,_

_I know you wake up early so I decided to give this information to you to pass to Yasashiku and Kenshin. _

_The Chuunin Exams will be starting soon and I need to know if you would like to participate in the test. That is all I am aloud to tell you. Meet me, with the twins, outside the Inn in an hour. _

_Ayumi_

The note was really random...REALLY random. 'What, we actually get a choice? That's probably the first.' I yawned and walked out of my room still holding the scroll. 'Wow guess I'm should try sleeping sometimes.' I thought as I walked to the brothers' room and knocked gently.

I heard footsteps on the other side of the door and a voice murmur, "Who is it?" it was Kenshin.

"It's me, Roza." and the door flew open and I saw Kenshins face, paler then ever.

"Roza! Wow! Isn't it rather early?"

"Ayumi sent me a scroll telling us about the Chuunin Exams and I had to pass it to you both."

"Right...thanks." he sounded uncertain about something, probably because I woke him up so early.

"Sorry for waking you up,"

"No problem, I wasn't even sleeping."

"What about Yasashiku?" the words left my mouth without my brain telling them to.

"Um...he's awake too."

"You guys really should sleep,"

"So should you; those shadows look more like bruises."

"...right...Well see you around." and I turned to leave, but...

"Roza, can I have the scroll?"

"Oh" I looked at my hand to see it, "Yeah, here." I handed it to him and walked away slowly, yawning again.

Three Hours Later:

"Okay, so who wants to try the Chuunin Exams?" asked Ayumi.

"Sounds good to me." said Kenshin in a flat tone.

"Same here." Yasashiku practically yelled.

I yawned before saying, "I do."

"Then it's settled." then she went on about where the first part will begin, and how proud of us she was. Then she handed us cards which she said was our ticket to get into the room, which evidently was 210 (I think that's what it was "".)

"Okay, so when do we go." asked Kenshin, taking the card from Ayumi.

"Today, in about an hour." she answered.

"Is that why you woke us up so early?"

"Pretty much♥" and she smiled.

He groaned, that was new.

"Well, I have to repeat, I am very proud of you all. You have really shown maturity and I hope you all pass." and with that, Ayumi disappeared.

"What do we do now?" I asked, looking at Yasashiku. He just looked at me and said, "Well, we could go early."

"Nah," Kenshin said, "I hate being early."

"What, you'd rather be fashionably late?" I asked.

"Actually, yes."

"Well, I hate being late and early, lets just go on time." said Yasashiku.

"Fine," Kenshin said.

"Alright." I said.

Silence.

"What now?" Kenshin asked.

Yasashiku "We could train and get ready for this exam."

"Sounds good to me." I said, yawning yet again for the third time that day.

The twins looked at me, then Yasashiku opened his mouth, but closed it and looked away.

"What?" I asked him.

"Nothing..." he answered.

"Your acting rather strange today." I had already forgotten about the day before.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean; your avoiding me today, what gives."

Kenshin didn't speak, he just looked at the both of us.

Yasashiku "Well...you were avoiding me yesterday. You even ran away from me."

'Shit! Make up an excuse, Roza!!'

I did, "I forgot to put on that cream."

"Told you." muttered Kenshin.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"He was just afraid that you were scared of him."

"Why would I be afraid of him?"

"You know, don't you."

I gulped, knowing what he was talking about, "Well...I don't know. I can't be sure."

"I think she knew all along, Yasashiku."

"But then why did she run yesterday?"

"Because I was afraid, but then I realized it was stupid. I'm really sorry."

"No, I should be sorry, I really need anger management."

"Yes, you do." Kenshin said. We all laughed.

Silence.

"Wow, we really need to find more stuff to talk about." Kenshin said.

"Well, now we can sleep!" Yasashiku sounded positive for the first time in a few days.

Kenshin "Right!"

I was uncertain, "...right."

"Anything wrong, Roza?"

"Hey maybe we should get going." I said.

Yasashiku "But it's only been a few minutes."

Kenshin "Fine, lets train."

"Okay, lets go."

Nobody moved...for 10 minutes.

"Nice training guys." I muttered.

Yasashiku "Yeah, we need a life, too." then he remembered something, "Kenshin?"

Kensin "Yeah?"

"You broke your promise."

"I know..."


	12. Sugar and the Fake Room

"What promise?" I asked

They just looked at me, "Nothing." Kenshin said.

I figured it was probably none of my business anyway, so I dropped it.

"I know this has probably already been said, but; what now?" Yasashiku asked.

"Well, I know of a good opening in a nearby wood were we can train." I said.

"Cool," Kenshin said, sounding excited, "lead the way, Roza."

I nodded my head and turned to my left while they followed close behind. The wood was only a few blocks away anyway, so there wasn't any need for awkward talking.

When we made it there, the twins looked amazed at all the space we had, which was about four kilometers of clear land.

"Whoa!" Yasashiku exclaimed, "How did you know this was even here?"

"I...wonder around a lot." I defended myself. This was actually were my old house was, in a wood. The years have taken away any trace of there ever being a house there, let alone one that was burnt down.

"So, let's see if we can dodge attacks from an enemy." I said, "Who wants to be the enemy?"

They stared at me, "What?" I asked.

"I think you should be the enemy, Roza." Yasashiku said.

"Um...why me?"

"Because you're probably the fastest."

"Well, I can't."

"Why?" Kenshin asked.

I tried to think of an excuse, I hate being the enemy. "I didn't eat any breakfast today."

"Well, that can be arranged," Yasashiku said, taking a cupcake out of his side pocket.

"Why do you carry that around with you?" I asked, awkwardly.

"I'm not really sure...just take it."

"Um..." I was very uncertain.

"What is it?"

"It just that...I can't have any sugar what so ever."

"Why?"

"I think its best if you don't know."

"Are you allergic?" Kenshin asked.

"No it's not that, it's just..."

"Come on, Roza. A little sugar isn't going to kill you." Yasashiku said, holding it closer to me.

I sighed and took it out of his hand, "You're going to regret it..." I took a bit and instantly an electrical charge went through me and my eyes went wide.

"Roza!" Yasashiku yelled, "You okay?"

"Maybe she was allergic." Kenshin said, "Roza?"

I just stood there looking strait ahead while my battery recharged.

It did, "WowthatcupcakewasgoodIcan'tbelieveIhaven'thadoneinsolong!" I said this very fast. (To know what she said see the bottom of the page where it says 1.)

"Um...what?" Yasashiku asked, a little worried.

"Let'sgettraining!" I said and I took out two kunai knives, "GGGOOOO!"

I don't think they needed telling twice, they ran off in separate directions.

* * *

Kenshin POV:

I had no clue what she was saying, but when she took out those kunai, I just ran off. 'Maybe it was a bad idea to give her sugar.' I thought, and I hoped my brother would now no that.

I had no clue where he was, but I only hoped he was nowhere near Roza right now. 'Let's see, how do we stop somebody with sugar rush?' I asked myself. 'There has to be some sort of cure or something. Come on! Think!' I pushed myself to think of a sugar rush cure, but came out nothing. But then I heard a twig break nearby and I stopped running to look around.

"Yasashiku?" I asked., hoping it was him.

"Nope!" and a kunai was flying right at me!

I dodged it right on time and ran in the other direction. 'Crap, I don't even know her weakness! But I have to find Yasashiku!'

At that very moment I heard his voice, "Kenshin?"

I stopped running and saw him emerge from a bush.

"Yasashiku!" I exclaimed, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I don't think she even knew where I was. How do we stop her?"

"I don't know." and I started to think again.

"Wait, she said this was only training, right?"

"Yeah..."

"So if we just tell her it's time to go to the exams, then she won't chase us anymore."

"That sounds very simple, let's try it."

And in unison, we both shouted, "Roza!!!"

"Yeahhowareyouwhyaren'tyouguysstillrunning?" she dropped from a tree as she was saying all of this.

I didn't know what she said, but I did hear the last few words. "We stopped because it's time to go to the exams."

"Ooohhhh...reallyIguesstimereallydoesgobyfastwhenwe'rehavingfunhuhguys?"

"Um...right, well let's go!" I tried to sound as enthusiastic as she was, but that wasn't my thing. Then again, it wasn't really Roza's thing either.

As we walked out of the forest, Roza wouldn't stop talking and it was giving me a massive headache. 'Come on, Kenshin! Think! I cannot take anymore of this annoying talking!' Normally her voice was serious or depressed sounding, but now it was this high-pitched girly voice, I hated that. Then I had an idea, 'Of course! It's so obvious!'

I took out a water bottle from my pouch and handed it to Roza, "I bet you're really thirsty from chasing us before."

"Woooooow!ThanksKenshinIdon'thaveanyideawhatIwoulddowithoutyou!" and she took it and drank deeply.

* * *

Roza POV:

I was so hyper that I wasn't even thinking about what could probably be in the water or anything, I just knew that I was very thirsty.

Right when I took a sip, I felt my hyper-active energy leaving me, my thoughts were slowing down to their normal pace, and my eyes drooped half way.

I dropped the empty water bottle and looked at the both of them. Then, without warning or anything, I pinned them each to the fence behind them with my own hands and said calmly, "Now, what have we learned about giving me sugar?"

They looked afraid, but I wanted them to forget everything they had just witnessed, Kenshin spoke, "Um...never give you sugar, got it."

I looked at Yasashiku, he looked even more freighted then Kenshin did, though he did speak, "Sorry."

"Now, I want you both to promise that you will never mention this to anyone, not even if they are on the floor dying!" now I was glaring, "Do you understand me?"

"Yes" they said in unison.

I dropped them and walked to the place where the exams were to be held. I heard them following close behind.

When we made it to the building, we climbed two flights of steps and walked to a crowd around a room, of course the room was 210.

"You can't come in, you're too weak!" said a voice that was very unfamiliar.

"Come on, we need to get in." said a female voice this time. There was a thud as though someone had punched her.

"What's going on?" I asked Kenshin quietly.

"No clue, but we need to get in." and he walked forward as his brother and I followed.

He pushed through the crowd and there were two boys, a few years older then us, guarding the door. Kenshin walked up to them and said, "Nice try." then he motioned to Yasashiku and I to follow him up another flight of stairs.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"It was genjutsu. That room was only room 110, we need to go up another flight of stairs to reach our destination."

"Good job, bro." Yasashiku praised.

"Yeah, I don't even think anyone else even knew about it." I said, smiling.

"Guess not because there not following us."

True, the others waiting at the decoy room didn't follow us, they only whispered to there neighbors. That was uncomfortable to me because it was just like my first day at the academy.

When we reached the room, which was the real 210. We walked in.

* * *

1. Wow that cupcake was good. I can't believe I haven't had one in so long!

2. Let's get training

3. Hey. How are you guys? Why aren't you still running?

4. Wow! Thanks Kenshin, I don't know what I would ever do without you.


	13. The Chuunin Exams Pt1

Many eyes were on us as we walked in, not only from Konoha, but from other villages as well. Also, not all of them were only a few years older then the rookies like the twins and I, some were actually men. 'Wow!' I thought, 'Tough test!'

I felt Yasashiku tense up a bit at my side. 'Poor kid, he and Kenshin are new in the village so they don't know much about Konoha's though crowds.'

"Hey, Loser." said a very annoying voice. Unfortunately, it was familiar. I looked behind me to see...

"Ino, I'm going to shove an apple in your mouth and throw you in the oven." I said.

"Go ahead! I dare you!" she shrieked.

"There's no oven, Genius." I said calmly.

She thought for a moment. At that moment he two other teammates, Shikamaru and Choji, joined her at he side.

"Come on, Ino," Shikamaru said, "I don't want to start any trouble."

"Like she could start any..." she stopped short and looked behind me. 'Crap! Now I know what's coming.'

"SASUKE!" and Ino ran past me. It could have been into me if I hadn't moved out of the way.

"Great," Shikamaru said, sarcastic, "Sasuke's here, now Ino won't be focused on the exam." Choji nodded his head, probably not even paying any attention, and popped another chip in his mouth.

The other two rookies walked to their other teammate, who was pretty much glomping Sasuke while Sakura glared at her.

"Roza?" Kenshin said.

"Yeah?"

"What's wrong with them?"

"Ino used to tease me and Choji eats...a lot."

"What about the one with the ponytail?"

"That's Shikamaru; he's very lazy but he must be strong if he made it this far as a shinobi."

"Yeah..."

"Hello, Roza." said a voice that was both pleasant, and not annoying. Shino was walking my way, his teammates close behind him.

"Hi Shino. How are you?"

"I'm good."

"I see you wanted to do the Chuunin Exams."

"Wouldn't miss it." said Kiba, a kid with dog-like features. "Looks like all the rookies are here."

"Yeah, lots of competition." Kenshin said.

"Sorry, but I don't think I've ever met you."

"I'm Kenshin, and this is my brother," He gestured to Yasashiku.

"Well, I hope we get to know each other better." and Kiba walked away. Hinata followed, but Shino looked at me first then also followed.

"What the hell does he mean by that?" Yasashiku asked.

"He wants to know your strengths and weaknesses." I answered, that was one of my awesome talents; speaking Kiba!

"Oh well, what a way to put it." Yasashiku continued.

"You have a sick mind, Brother." Kenshin said.

"What? It's just the way he said it!"

"I think it's better if you just stop talking."

"I think if you both don't shut the hell up, we're going to have a serious problem." I said. I hated bickering brothers.

"I'm gonna kick all your asses!!" said a voice, even more annoying then Inos'. I looked to see Naruto being strangled by Sakura. 'He's dead.' I thought.

"I'm really sorry!" Sakura said to the other shinobi trying the Chuunin Exams, for they now glared at us rookies. "He forgot to take his medicine today."

"You all better watch your backs, I hear the rookies are easier to dispose of." said a voice, a boy's voice, unfamiliar. I saw a boy with grayish hair and glasses walking towards us.

"And you are?" Naruto asked.

"Kabuto."

Silence.

"Um..." I started, "Nice to meet you?"

'I'm not here to make friends' I thought, stubbornly.

"Likewise. So like I said; rookies are easier to pick out, you all better watch your step."

"Thanks for the warning, but why warn us?" Sasuke asked.

The one called Kabuto just shrugged, "Thought I'd be nice. But I'd also like to help you out; does anyone need any information on anyone they know is taking the exam."

Sasuke immediately stepped forward, "Yeah, but how can you help."

Kabuto smiled, "I have tried this test about seven times, so I get a lot of information. I store that information in these cards." he took out a bunch of cards, "I can tell you a lot about whoever you need help with. Just describe them"

"What if I just said their names?" Sasuke asked.

"Well that takes the fun out of everything." the boy pouted, "What are their names?"

"Gaara of the Desert and Rock Lee."

"Alright, I'll see what I've got." then he took the deck and got the two cards he needed. He held them in front of his face and said, "Here they are."

"Show them to me." Sasuke demanded. Kabuto obeyed and explained them to him. Though I wasn't paying much attention, there was a bug crawling up my leg. I put my finger in the way of its path and it crawled on it.

I held it in front of my face and I examined it. I looked like a beetle; they were my favorite bug.

"An A-rank?!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"Yeah, it says here he made it through unscathed."

"That's impossible, there's no way a Genin can make it through an A-rank mission without a mark." Kenshin said.

"Yeah, I would know." I muttered, though no one heard me.

"I can't explain it either," Kabuto said, putting the cards away, "but it seems possible to him."

Suddenly, Kenshin tensed near me. I looked at his expression and whispered, "What is it?" but he didn't answer.

Kabuto jumped back and smiled as a ninja attacked him. The ninja just laughed and said, "You're quick, but not quick enough" then he left, I didn't have a chance to get a good look at him.

Then Kabuto's glasses broke and his smile disappeared. He doubled over and began to puke.

"Kabuto! Are you okay?" Naruto asked.

He didn't answer, just wiped his mouth and glared at the shinobi staring at us. 'Poor kid,' I thought, 'but he totally dodged it! I saw him jump back! There's no there could be that much damage!' I felt like saying this out loud, but a gigantic puff of smoke appeared at the front of the room and a booming voice said, "Alright chatterboxes, shut up!"

I looked at the front desk and many ninja were suddenly there, wearing grayish outfits, except the one in the middle who wore black and had many scars across his face. There was something scary in his eyes that made me cringe; unfortunately, he was the one who spoke. "I am Morano Ibiki the proctor for the first part of the Chuunin Selection Exams. This part will be a written test. Now, I will give you each numbers and a seat, once everyone has sat down, then I will explain the rules."

So, one by one, all the shinobi were separated and given different numbers; my number was 13.

Once everyone was seated, including the other shinobi that appeared with the proctor, Ibiki banged a piece a chalk against the board and wrote as he spoke, "I only want to say all this once, so don't ask any questions and pay attention. During this exam, you will start out with 10 points, 1 point for each question, for every point you get wrong, you will lose that point. If we see cheating of any sort then you will lose 2 points automatically, in other words, if you get caught cheating 5 times, you fail this test. The shinobi along the walls have sharp eyes, so I wouldn't try it."

"I've got my eye on you." one of them said.

The one called Ibiki continued, "You all have one hour to complete the nine questions on the paper, the tenth question will be presented at the end of hat hour. If one person in your team gets all of them wrong, then your whole team will fail. I will explain more at the end of this hour. You may begin."

The room was filled with the sound of scratching pencils as everyone wrote their name. I wrote mine, then read the first question carefully.

'Crap! I don't understand this!' I thought miserably. 'Guess I'll have to skip then return.' I read through question two...three...four.

After five I chuckled, 'I have no clue what these questions are talking about.' I read the last question just to see how hard it was, it had something to do with plants and medicine; my specialty.

'Cool! This one is easy.' I thought as I wrote down the correct answer, 'At least now I won't be totally at fault.'

I reread all the questions I missed...1-8 but still didn't understand them, 'I really don't get this, these questions are totally beyond my level, the whole Genin level, there's no way I can get all these questions! But I can't cheat either...I don't want to ruin it for all of us. But it's almost like we have no other choice.'

At that moment a kunai flew and hit a kid's paper sitting to the left of me. I jumped, scared it was probably for me. Good thing it wasn't.

"Number 11: Failed. Numbers 44 and 5: Failed."

"How can you be sure I was cheating?! Prove it!" the kid next to me said.

"You will leave now or face the consequences." Ibiki said in a dangerous voice.

The boy left without protesting anymore, though they had to drag one of his teammates away.

'There's no way I'm cheating now! But...maybe he got caught because he really sucks at stealth.' at that moment, it dawned on me.

'Because this is a test of stealth! The proctor said if he catches us cheating, I just can't get caught. But how can I cheat without getting caught?' I thought for a moment, then I saw a bug crawling across my paper, 'That's it!'

I focused some chakra into my choker, only a little because I only needed one bug. Sure enough, a fly buzzed around my head and I could communicate with it.

'Okay, lets start with question one, shall we?' and the fly zoomed away.

While it was gone, I pretended to be thinking, or writing down an answer, I couldn't afford anyone being suspecting me.

The fly returned and flew in a strange pattern, I recognized it as characters in the alphabet, though they didn't make sense. 'Try that person in front of me.' I told it. The insect obeyed and came back sooner, repeating the same pattern. 'Well, if two people got it...' I thought, writing down the answer. 'Now for number two.' the fly knew the drill.

Each time it came back later and later. I was actually getting worried that the hour would pass before I even finished!

As my questions were getting answered, they made more sense. Then I noticed Sakura was checking over her answers, I smiled demonically, 'She's a totally brainic, I bet she knows all the answers, check her.' I told the fly; it obeyed with pleasure.

It came back much later this time; there was only 5 minutes left until the final question! The fly knew I was tense and it quickly spelt out the answers, no mistakes made.

"Sorry, have to use the bathroom." said a kid on the other side of the room...happily.

He was quickly handcuffed and was taken out of the room. His performance lost me a few precious minutes.

"Alright! I want all of you to put your pencils down!" Ibiki demanded.

'Damnit!' The seventh question was wrong so Sakura had the right answer.

"I will now present the tenth questions, but before I do, there are more rules that I must tell you."

'Great...MORE TALKING!' I really hated lectures.

"First off..." he stopped short as the kid who left returned to the room. "Your right on time, I hope you enjoyed yourself."

'Okay...I think that is really disturbing.'

The boy didn't speak, but returned to his seat, for some reason he didn't have the handcuffs on anymore.

"Anyway," Ibiki continued, "if anyone here would like to quite and take the test again next year, then you may raise your hand and all your points will be gone." he stopped, but nobody raised their hand.

"Let me continue, those of you who'd like to stay, but get the tenth question wrong, you will fail the whole test and will never be able to repeat the Chuunin Exams."

"What?!" someone yelled.

"I said no questions!!" Ibiki screamed back.

It was silent, then a kid raised his hand, he was to my right. His voice was shaky when he spoke, "That's it, I'm done."

"Number 12: Failed. Numbers 1 and 37: Failed."

Two other people stood up slowly and made their way out. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't take it."

In just 5 minutes, a little less then half raised their hand. I almost did raise my hand, but I couldn't, I hated being the weak point in the team, but the pressure was totally on me. My legs shook uncontrollably, but I didn't give in.

Then, Naruto raised his hand. 'What? Why is he raising his hand?' I remember how the back at the academy everyone used to make fun of him for his dream of becoming Hokage, but I respected that dream of his, I never doubted him.

Then his hand was slammed on the desk. "There's no way I'm giving up! I'm gonna be Hokage! And the only way to do that is to become a full fetched ninja!"

I had no idea what was with Naruto's words, but they seemed to make me feel more confident. But I wasn't the only one, everyone else was smiling, their expression told me they weren't going to give up either.

"Well then." Ibiki said, "Is there anyone who'd like to give up and take the test next year, or take the risk of not being able to become a Chuunin again."

His words had no more affect on me, I was now shaking of eagerness. 'Come on, Ibiki. I'm ready!'

"Nobody? Well then...You all pass!"

'WTF!!!'

"You all pass the first part of the Chuunin Selection Exams. Congratulations!"

It was silent.

"What the heck just happened?" a girl with four blond pigtails asked out loud. "How do we suddenly pass? What's the tenth question?"

Ibiki laughed, "There is none; it was a trick. The main point of this test was to see how good your stealth was."

'I totally called that one, PWNED B...'

"Those who were caught 5 times were not ready to be a Chuunin because they weren't good enough, and those who gave up weren't ready to risk everything. That is why you all pass." He unwrapped his headband and took it off, what was concealed...

'This poor guy has been tortured!' I thought.

There were burn and puncture marks all over his head. There were wounds that would probably be fatal to anyone who couldn't resist it.

"You all have to learn how to resist anything. As a Chuunin, you will be going on secret missions. In your path, enemy ninja will be capturing you and torturing you until you tell them what the mission is."

'Poor guy, he's been through a whole lot.'

Suddenly a banner flew out the window, completely concealing Ibiki. The banner was held up with two kunai. A woman stood in front of it, he looked stern.

"Alright! My name is Anko and I will be your proctor for the second part of the Chuunin Exams!" she said, her voice was deep and military-like.

"Anko," Ibiki said from behind the banner, "You're early again."

Her face dropped and she spoke to Ibiki quietly for a while. Then she nodded and turned back to us. "Follow me."


	14. Chuunin Exams Pt2 Day 1

We did followed her as soon as we met up with the rest of our team. I greeted Yasashiku and Kenshin warmly. They just nodded, looking relieved that the test of hell was over.

Anko lead us to a fenced area that had no trespassing signs all over it. Inside the fenced are was a forest that looked like it could go on for days.

"This is where the second part of the Chuunin Exams will be, The Forest of Death." Anko said. Naruto decided to be cocky and mimicked her in such a childish fashion. A kunai cut across his cheek, leaving him to bleed. She was soon behind him and she licked the blood off his cheek...ew.

'Wow, this chick is strange.' I thought.

"How can I resist the taste of a young man's blood?" she said. It was gross and disturbing to see her licking his cheek, I looked away.

"I'm sorry," said a cool female voice, "But I just wanted to return your kunai knife."

I looked back at the scene to see a new character. She wore a straw hat and her tongue was longer then the normal humans'. I noticed her tongue because she held a kunai in it and was giving it back to its owner.

"Thank you," Anko said, taking the knife from the females' mouth. "But please, never come this closer to me again."

"My apologizes." the ninja backed off to her team. "But I can not resist the smell of blood as well."

"Alright, back to business." Anko said, letting go of Naruto and giving him a stack of papers to pass around, "I am passing around a paper that you will sign, when you and the rest of your team signs it you will give it to those ninja in the curtained area." she pointed west and, sure enough, there was a small table with two shinobi sitting at it. "The paper simply says that I'm not responsible for your death or injuries while taking this test. Signing this is your ticket to the forest. Once you sign and turn it in, one of your teammates will get one of these scrolls," she reached into her back pocket and took out two scrolls; one was black with the word 'Earth' printed on it and the other was white with the word 'Heaven' printed on it. Anko continued, "You need to bring both of these scrolls to a tower in the center of the forest in five days time. All three of your teammates must make it through if you wish to pass this part of the test. Here is a map of the forest and what the tower looks like." she held up a piece of paper and there was a diagram of the forest and a forest surrounding it. "You all have an hour to sign the paper, get your scroll, and go to the fence number you were given. Go."

It wasn't as tense as the first exam was, we were all laid back and some laughed with their other teammates.

"This is starting to get interesting." Kenshin said.

"Yeah..." I said, I thought about telling them that I almost gave in during the written exam, but I decided not to. I finished signing my name, which is really short seeing how I don't have a last name anymore. Kenshin and Yasashiku also completed with their names and we all walked silently to the table.

When we got there, we closed the curtain around us. One of the shinobi spoke first, "Do you all have your papers signed?"

"Yes," I said, 'Why else would we be here, dumbass?'

We handed our papers to him and he checked them over, then he nodded to his friend. The other one said, "You three will get the heaven scroll," He reached under the table, took out the white scroll and handed it to Kenshin. "Your gate number is 6, good luck."

Nothing else was said as Kenshin, Yasashiku and I walked to a gate nearby. There was still 45 minutes left to spare, so we tried to think of a plan silently.

"Maybe we should sleep in the day time, and attack at night when everyone else is asleep." I suggested.

"Yeah, but then ninja can attack us while we sleep." Kenshin said. He had a point.

"Not if one of us watches over the other two."

"Yeah, but then you'll be tired."

"I never said it would be me."

"You were thinking it."

"I was going to ask if one if you wanted to do it."

"But you knew we would say no."

"I don't sleep much anyway."

Yasashiku broke in, "And if you were tired, we always could give you something to eat. Sugar seems to boost your chakra."

"Yeah, but you saw how dangerous it was! Sugar is like a drug; I can't control myself."

"Can you take the risk?" Kenshin asked.

"Can you?"

"Now that we know a cure, it should be no problem."

"Okay, but we need to find a concealed area, that way the probability of someone attacking us will be less."

"Good idea." they both said in unison. Just then a shinobi walked towards us and unlocked the gate with a silver key. Then he said in a mournful voice, "Don't go until Anko says so." and we nodded as he stalked off.

The minutes flew by with nothing to talk about. All the gates were accompanied within the first 55 minutes.

Once those last 5 minutes passed, Anko yelled, "Alright you maggots! You may begin!" and every ninja flew out their gate.

Day1:

Kenshin, Yasashiku and I jumped quickly from tree to tree, looking for a cave or something. Kenshin stopped and Yasashiku and I jumped another tree before stopping.

"You find something?" Yasashiku asked.

"Yeah, look down there." Kenshin pointed to a thick tree. Then he turned to me, "Can you see if it's hollow, Roza?"

"Of course," I said, jumping from the tree I was standing on. I walked over to the thickest tree in the HISTORY of thick trees and knocked on in a few times.

"Sorry, Kenshin, but this one's solid. We'll have to keep looking."

Just then, I heard a loud, blood-curdling scream. The scream gave me goosebumps.

"Wow, the competition is already killer..." Yasashiku said in a shaky voice.

"Yeah, maybe we should get moving." Kenshin said, looking around.

We walked on the ground this time, hoping to save at least a little energy. Then an idea struck me.

"Hold on," I said as I took out my trusty kunai and dug it into a tree, then I cupped my ear around it. There were footsteps very close by coming our way.

"Tow people," I whispered, "Very near, there right behind us."

"You sure?" Kenshin asked.

"Positive." I removed my kunai from the tree.

"Wait to attack, or set up a trap?" Yasashiku asked.

Kenshin looked at me, "How close is near?"

"We won't have time to set up a decent trap without being caught. The best we can do is hide and set up of a surprise attack."

"Good idea, come on." and we crouched behind some bushes.

Shortly after, two ninja landed in only 10 feet from us. "Where did they go?" one of them asked. He sounded bored.

"I can smell them; their close, very close." said the other. His voice was dangerous. I looked through the leaves of the bushes and saw that he was very grimy looking, though he wore a blindfold.

"Can you sniff their exact location?"

"With pleaser." and the grimy one got closer to us, soon he was only 2 feet from us.

At that moment, Kenshin's katana lit with a furious fire and he jumped from behind the hiding place and slashed the fire sword at the grimy ninja. He fell back, bursting into an immediate flame. His companion did a water jutsu and put it out. Then he said, "I guess their behind the bushes, Guraimi."

"You think." Kenshin said.

The one called Guraimi stood up and ran at Kenshin with a kunai in his hand. But then, something slimy popped from the ground and wrapped its tail around Guraimi's ankle. He yelped and I also got out of the bushes. "That's one thing I like about this forest so far, the bigger the bugs, the easier it is." I said, as Guraimi struggled to get free of the gigantic worm. "I got this guy, you get the other one." I added to Kenshin, he obeyed and swung his sword at the other guy.

"So you fight with bugs, don't you." the other one said to me as he fought with Kenshin. That was strange. Then, out of nowhere, he did a few handsigns so fast, I didn't even see them, and fire burst from the guy's mouth and my worm was soon burnt to a crisp.

"Thank you, Giraigan." Guraimi said. Then he ran at me with such speed, I had no time to react. He grabbed my throat and pinned me to a tree that was behind me. I could smell his hot, rancid breath on my face. It smelt so bad I could have past out right there. His nails dug into my neck as he said, "You're very pretty, shame you won't get to take advantage of it." then he squeezed my neck harder and I soon couldn't breathe. I felt drops of blood on my neck and my vision failed me. Then I heard a voice yell, "Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" and Guraimi let go and was lit on fire yet again. This time, his friend was preoccupied with Kenshin, so there was no one to put out the flame.

I held my neck and took deep breaths. I looked around to see Yasashiku looking terrified. That confused me, 'Isn't that his jutsu? He must have performed it. Who else could it have been?'

"Yasashiku?" I asked. He didn't answer. "Hello?!" still nothing. I stood up and walked over to him. His eyes were focused on the burning body.

I waved my hand in front of his face. This time, something happened. His eyes turned a deep, blood red.

I took a step back from him as my greatest fear came to life once more. "Yasashiku!" I screamed. I had no idea what to do; Kenshin was fighting Giraigan so he couldn't help me.

He walked towards me, very slowly. I backed away but my back hit the tree. He continued to get closer. Soon we were nose to nose.

I didn't know what to do, I was shaking too hard. I did the only thing I could get the strength to do; I slapped him right across the face.

He took a step back and put his hand on the bruise. Then he got closer and I slapped him again; the same thing happened.

This time I punched him so hard he went flying across the forest and he landed on Giraigan. They were both unconscious.

Kenshin looked at his brother and enemy, then at me. I read nothing in his eyes. I looked at my hands and they were still shaking. I looked back at Kenshin, and then ran off into the forest.

* * *

I cried as I ran, 'What have I done?' asked a soft side of me. 

'You just attacked you team memeber, that's what you did.' said a tougher side.

'But it was an accident! What else could I have done?'

Then a voice in the back of my head said, 'You could have killed him.'

"NO!" I yelled out loud as I stopped running. 'I have to take my mind off of this.' Then I took out my kunai and felt vibrations. There was a fight nearby.

'Good, I can watch that. I hope its gruesome enough to get my mind off of things.

I ran south towards the fight. When I got close enough I landed in a tree and covered myself using the branches and leaves. Then I noticed that there was a small sand ninja and a big rain ninja fighting. There was a shell around the Sand where thousands of needles were stuck in.

The shell then...melted. No, break apart. It was mad of sand.

The sand crept to the Rain ninja and completly surrounded him, leaving only his terrified face uncovered. Then the Sand sqeezed his his hand, and the Rain was in pieces. I dark liquid landed on my face when. I knew what it was, but I didn't want to believe it.

The sand the turned his attention to a bush that was to his right. I knew someone was behind there, I knew that whoever was there, was going to be dead. I tried to move, but I could hardly breathe. I jumped from the tree silently and ran behind the bush. I crouched low and extended my arms. I closed my eyes and saw the same red eyes, they were to be the last things I ever would see.

"Fine." said a hard voice from behind me. Then I heard footsteps walking away.

I didn't relax my position for what seemed like an eternity. Finally I opened my eyes to see the most unlikely team; Kiba, Hinata, and Shino.

Their backs were turned, and they probably didn't know I was hear, but all the same I said, "Y-" I started, but the noise that came out of my mouth couldn't have been mine. "You really should leave." It was my voice. They left without looking back and they staggered a little. I put down my arms and got on my hands and knees. I coughed only twice before tyring to stand up. The standing up part didn't work out so well; I collapsed.


	15. The Chuunin Exams Pt 2 Day 2

I opened my eyes very slowly to a sudden brightness. For a fraction of a second, I thought I was dead, but then I remembered I was only in the Forest of Death during the survival part of the Chuunin Exams, nothing big.

I got in a sitting position and stretched upward. I had no clue what time it was besides the fact that it was probably the morning of the second day. Then I remembered something very important. "I have to find Kenshin and Yasashiku!" I stood up and ran to my left.

I knew it was towards the tower, even though I had neither scrolls, but they probably ran there anyway...for some reason.

"Well, Well, Well. What have we here?" said a voice, it was a cool, guy voice that only meant one thing; I'm going to die if I don't defend myself.

A figure jumped from a tree and landed in front of me, I staggered back, surprised.

The ninja had bluish hair and was dressed in heavy clothing, even though it was nearing summer.

"A helpless child?" he said, "Wandering about on her own? You better not get lost, my sweet."

I took another step backwards and held a kunai behind my back, but the ninja had pretty good eyes.

"You better not attack me with that." his voice got even more dangerous.

"Why shouldn't I? You're an enemy and I need a scroll." I felt more confident for some reason.

"Oh, you need a scroll? Well then, I happen to have two." he held up a black and white scroll, one said earth, the other said heaven.

I ran towards them very quickly, but he disappeared. I looked around to find him, instead he found me. My own kunai was held to my neck; he was behind me.

"Let's not get hasty, Girl. I tried to be polite"

"In what, killing me?" I said calmly, this didn't scare me.

He pushed the kunai closer to my neck; I was surprised when it actually hurt. Then I remembered that fight with Guraimi yesterday and how he dug his nails into my neck. Why is it always the neck anyway? There are other pressure points throughout the body.

"Hey, do you know how many pressure points there are in a teenager's body?" I asked him. He seemed surprised at the random question, "Well, not all of them..."

I smiled at him; "Good," then I got my hand out of his grip and held him to my back. Then I did a back flip and we both landed on the hard ground; he fell first, I landed on top of him. He coughed blood in my hair then said, "What the hell does this have to do with pressure points?"

"It doesn't," I said, holding the kunai to _his_ neck now. "You will give me your scrolls and I won't kill you, or I'll kill you and get the scrolls myself."

This time, he smiled, "On the contrary," then I suddenly felt cold, very cold. I shivered and got off of him, but he was holding my ankle; a sheet of thin ice was moving its way up my leg, freezing me. I tried to kick him off, "Let go!"

"I don't think I will." he smiled an evil smile.

I didn't know what to do; strange things went through my mind as I shivered. The ice was at my waist and I almost felt faint.

"Maybe you shouldn't run with the wrong people, Child. Something bad could happen to you."

A strange image ran through my head, and image of someone cutting a person into pieces. '_Well...can't hurt to try.'_ I grabbed another kunai with shaking hands. He noticed then laughed. "Go ahead, I dare you."

My teeth were chattering so hard, I couldn't speak. I just slashed the kunai right on his hand and it was removed from his arm.

He yelled out and held his bleeding stump. I was still half frozen but I scratched at the ice with my kunai. It broke in only a few slices. I stood up, 'I need to get those scrolls!' I ran at him again and this time he didn't dodge. I held the same kunai to his neck again and told him to give the scrolls to me. He took them out of his pocket and dropped them on the floor. I still held him there. He didn't protest; he knew what I wanted now.

He fell to the ground, out cold from lack of blood. I couldn't have him chase after me, he was tough, and he could easily have killed me without a hand. I bent down and picked up the scrolls.

I was very alert and my ears were suddenly as sharp as that of a dog. So sharp, I heard steady breathing only five feet from me. I threw some suriken and heard a yelp.

"Please don't do that."

"Shino? What are you doing here?"

"Well I heard a fight going on and I wanted to see what was up." then he tilted his head to the side, "You're very barbaric when fighting aren't you?"

I blushed, "Yeah...I don't always think things through..."

"Where is the rest of your team?"

This was suspicious, he doesn't normally ask these sorts of questions, then again, it could be the fact that I'm so alert. I made an attempt to calm down, didn't work out very well.

"Roza? Did you hear me?"

"Huh? Oh right, sorry." I looked away.

"What is it?" he asked.

"You don't normally ask me questions about my team, it makes me wonder."

"Wonder about what?"

"If you really are Shino."

"What? You think I'm some other person wanting to hurt you?"

"Um...when you put it that way...yes."

"I probably would have hurt you by now."

"Yeah, but the whole point of this part of the test was to take start out with one scroll, steal another one, and go to the middle of the Forest of Death within five days. You could be an enemy ninja without either scrolls."

"Ask me any question Shino would only know."

I had no time for twenty questions, but I was curious; friend or foe? I thought of a question, a hard one, one that nobody knows except me and Shino. I thought about asking what happened to my parents, but I didn't want to risk it, I asked another one.

"What do I see every time I close my eyes?"

He answered without hesitation, "You see red eyes that you think watch your every move."

I felt cold fingers on my ankle again. I gave out a cry and looked down; the ninja whom I just fought was squeezing my ankle and more ice was creeping up my leg, slower, but still very cold.

I told a deep breath and crouched over; I could actually see my breath.

The bitterness stopped as quickly as it had come and I felt the fingers release.

"You okay?" Shino asked, holding out a hand to help me up. 'How did I get on the ground?'

I grabbed his hand and he pulled me up. "So do you believe that I'm Shino?" he asked.

"Yes...I do."

Silence.

"Well...um...bye Shino. I've got to find the twins." and I walked off into the bushes.

It was sort of a lie, I wasn't looking for the twins, I just needed to leave; Shino and I haven't had a decent conversation since I blurted my big secret, and talking to him was even more uncomfortable. 'What the hell was wrong with me? How can I trust them? Especially Shibi, I don't even know him!'

I got my mind off the fact by doing my kunai trick; there was a stream nearby. I walked towards it. 'Might as well drink some water.'

The stream was pure looking; it sparkled in the bright sun. I bent down and cupped my hands in the water. It was cool and it made me shiver but I drank the water anyway. I splashed my face and used my arm to wipe away the extra water.

I stood up and walked away from the stream without looking back. Then I heard a yell; a male's voice, it sounded familiar, but I kept walking.

I heard it again, this time louder, and more clear, "NO! KENSHIN!"

"Yasashiku!" I whispered, and then I ran towards the sound.

As I got closer, I could hear the sounds of struggle, it wasn't a pretty sound either.

I ran faster and faster and faster, and as I ran, I got closer and closer and closer. As I got closer, I could see a small opening; in the opening were Yasashiku and Kenshin.

Kenshin was lying on his back and I could actually see the blood rushing out of his head from a deep wound. Yasashiku was kneeling at his side, shaking him out of unconsciousness. "Wake up! Come on!" he yelled, but Kenshin remained restful.

When I was close enough to see more of the opening, I noticed the ground below them was moving. But then I soon realized that it wasn't the ground...

"No way!" I said softly.

I jumped in front of the brothers and the sand, once again saving someone's life from the same person.

"Why do you protect them?" asked the sand ninja.

I swallowed, trying to find my voice, "Because, they mean something to me." I said pathetically.

"What about the others?"

"S-same answer." Was he going to kill me?

No, he just blinked then walked off, his sand following him into the shadows.

I stood in place, not moving, talking...or even breathing. Until someone hugged me from behind.

"Thank you." said Yasashiku.

The physical contact was awkward. He noticed then let go, I could feel his face burn up.

I turned around and he was kneeling at Kenshin again. I noticed that he was a complete mess. His hair was astray and there was a hint of crimson in the white color. His skin almost clashed with his hair, it was so pale, and his face was tearstained and there was a dark spot on his cheek.

But he was nothing compared to Kenshin; his face was almost completely red from the injury and his hair was actually red. But what really sickened me was the fact that his own katana was sticking out of his arm.

I walked over to him and tried to pull it out, but I saw him wince, so I let go. "What happened here?" I asked Yasashiku.

"That freaky red haired kid just attacked us with that sand...thing. Kenshin lit his katana and struck him. But I blinked and it just backfired on him; that's how the katana got" he broke off.

I pointed at the injury on Kenshin's head. "What about that?" I said faintly. One word escaped his lips before collapsing; "Sand."

I looked at the both of them, resting there. 'Poor kids. They should be fine until morning.' I thought, getting in a sitting position and keeping a close eye on them.


	16. The Chuunin Exams Pt2 Day 3

I ducked my head a little from staying up all night and almost half the previous day, but I wouldn't sleep, I couldn't sleep. 'After what happened yesterday how could anyone sleep?'

That was the second time I had saved someone from the same bloodthirsty person, and the second time I escaped. 'Why didn't he attack me? I was completely defenseless. He could have sent my insides flying all over the place!' What really bothered me was the fact that he killed the Rain ninja and was going to kill the twins; boys. 'Maybe he doesn't like killing girls.' I had thought, although I had the feeling it was something more.

That night I cleaned up Kenshin's injuries and, with much difficulty and sickening noises, I removed the katana and cleaned it with some water mix with an herb I knew would help sooth it. I didn't bring any bandages with me, so the wounds would be completely open.

The sun finally came up, blinding me from its summer brightness. 'My God! Is it morning already?' I asked myself. I was very tired and sort of loopy; I wouldn't be surprised if I just ran off into the forest and collapsed while trying to get into a random fight.

Yasashiku stirred ever so slightly, though I didn't notice right away. Although I did notice when he tried to sit up, but I did nothing. Instead I stared at Kenshin, trying to wake him up telepathically, it didn't work the way I hoped it would.

Yasashiku opened his mouth as though to speak but he just coughed. I allowed it, but twitched at every struggling breath. It was when he began coughing blood is when I broke my stare with Kenshin.

I stared at Yasashiku as he coughed up blood; his eyes were closed, it was painful to just watch. I grabbed a water bottle from my pack and handed it to him. He slowly reached for it and drank it deeply, coughing between sips.

He lowered the empty bottle and said hoarsely, "How is he?"

"He should be fine." I answered.

"How about you? You must have been up half the night."

I chuckled slightly, "I don't sleep anymore, Yasashiku."

"Why?"

"Because..." I broke off. It would scar me for life if I told him I had red eyes glaring at me every second.

"Because why?" he pushed.

"Because I knew that if I slept something might happen to you two." not exactly a lie.

"Did something happen?"

"If I didn't tend to Kenshin's wounds, they would be a hell of a lot worse."

"Oh..."

Silence...until;

"Roza? What did that red-head mean when he said 'All of them'"

The question was random, and I had no clue how I was going to answer it. "Um...after I...'ran away'..." I broke off because Kenshin groaned.

Me and Yasashiku were staring at Kenshin as he slightly twitched and shook. With every struggling breath he took felt like a small part of me was dying. 'My friends are going to end up dead! What the hell am I going to do with myself?!'

Everything happened very quickly: fist minute Kenshin is struggling to breathe, the next he's on his knees, throwing up blood. Yasashiku were too shocked to do anything.

Once Kenshin calmed down a bit, he took sharps gasps and looked around, but did a double take when he glanced at me.

We stared at each other for what seemed like centuries: me with probably my normal hard stare and Kenshin with his 'I-have-no-clue-what-to-think-of-you-at-the-moment.'

Yasashiku looked at Kenshin, me, and then repeated the process.

Finally, Kenshin spoke; it was breathtaking to hear his voice again, "What happened?"

I was going to answer, but Yasashiku had his own agenda; "You...sort of...kind of...got your katana launched into your arm."

'Typical boy talk. Even when there brother was just on death bed.' I thought to myself, but was quickly ashamed.

Kenshin looked back at me and asked _me, _"What about that kid with the gourd on his back?"

"Yeah" Yasashiku said slowly, "I'd like to know too"

They both looked at me, "I don't even know what happened, he just...walked off"

"Yeah but you encountered him before! He even said so!"

'Thanks Yasashiku, I knew I could count on you.'

"What does he mean, Roza?" Kenshin asked, sounding a bit different.

"Um...I did see him during the first day...when I...left. And he killed these three tough-looking Rain ninja in only seconds." I stopped, not wanting to continue. But they waited; it was amazing how they knew there was more. "And...after seeing that...it was just horrible! I felt as though I myself were about to die." I swallowed and continued, "He extended his arm towards bushes and I knew he was going at it again. What else could I do? Nobody deserves to die like that!"

"I guess that's reasonable. Who was it?" Kenshin asked.

"You know those three ninja during the first exam; the one's who questions us?"

"Yeah, that kid with the K9 features, the kid with glasses, and the girl who was just looking at the ground."

"Well...it was them."

Silence. Up to a point.

"Did you know it was them?" Yasashiku asked.

"No. But does it matter?" I asked, "I mean, if you would have seen it...I actually passed out for the rest of the day!"

'And I have completely given up sleeping.'

"Your right, Roza. But there is nothing else to say on the subject. NOTHING," he added, for Yasashiku opened his mouth, "on the subject."

A cricket chirped nearby, but it stopped when we heard a sickening _crunch _noise, as though someone was eating something crunchy.

"Sooo...how are you feeling, Kenshin?" I asked.

"I should be fine," then he looked at his arm and widened his eyes at the deep wound. Then he poked it and said, "Um...why doesn't this hurt?"

"Is that a bad thing?" Yasashiku asked.

"Well...no, but this cut is so deep I can almost see my bone!"

Yasashiku looked at me, "What exactly did you put on it?"

I shrugged, "Just a herb that numbs on contact, nothing big. Why?"

The boys' jaws dropped.

"Um...what?" I looked behind me stupidly.

"Why didn't you tell us you could heal?" Yasashiku asked.

"Yeah!! It could have been useful!" Kenshin said.

"Well...you never asked."

"What else can you heal?" they both asked in unison.

"Just wounds like that and poison ivy and oak But anybody can heal those."

"How do you find this stuff out?"

"I like to read books." I said simply, though I wish I didn't; I sounded sort of nerdy.

So I changed the subject. "Hey, lets get going. I don't like being in this forest."

"Yeah, but we only have one scroll." Kenshin said.

"Um..." Yasashiku said, awkwardly, "Actually...I lost it."

"YOU LOST IT??!!" Kenshin asked loudly.

"Hey!! Calm down! I have both scrolls we should be fine if we leave now." I said softly, but still loud enough for them to hear me.

"How did you get both...?" Yasashiku started but I cut him off, "If we stay here we won't have any!"

"Um...right. Let's go." he said.

Him and me help Kenshin to his feet, for he was still a it weak, and half carried him while we jumped from tree to tree.

* * *

**Okay, i sort of ran out of stuff to write, so the next time you hear from them, they will be at the tower already...**

**please review! they make me confident!!**


	17. The Battles

**as you probably know, I allowed them to go to the tower with 2 days to spare((or did I?)); I know it seems like one of those things that are all like 'aaargh!! ninjas have it so easy!! I think they should have lost the scrolls!' and other crap like that. but trust me, I am nearing the end of my story and soon there will be nothing left and then you will look back on this story saying 'I NEED MORE!!!' ((if no one reviews then I'll end the story on a cliffhanger! –demonic music-))**

* * *

We made it to the tower, surprisingly without bumping into anybody else. Kenshin had regained most of his strength but was devastated when we told him his katana broke in half. ((I don't know if I mentioned that or not)) "That practically the only thing I knew how to fight with." He complained as we walked through the front doors.

"Are you serious?" I asked him. It was pretty hard for me to believe that the only fighting style he knew was lighting his katana on fire.

"No, he's not." Yasashiku said, rolling his eyes, "He knows how to do almost all the wind type jutsu, he just doesn't like using them."

"Um...why?"

"Because it takes too much energy out of me, I don't have very good chakra control."

"I guess that's understandable." I said, my chakra was very low. 'I don't think I'll even make it through the third part.' I thought doubtfully.

"Hey, what's with the poem?" Yasashiku asked, not even paying attention to me anymore.

I looked at the board on the wall that had a riddle on it. Kenshin and Yasashiku stared at it blankly, but I understood it.

"Guess we can open our scroll now." I said.

"How do you know?" they asked.

"Well, it says so right there." I pointed.

"Okay...who should open it? There are three of us and two scrolls."

"I don't think it is a matter of who gets a treat, Brother."

"I know! But the proctor said we'll regret it if we open them..."

"Before we reach the tower. We're here and the riddle says it's okay to open them." I said.

"Okay, how do you know that!?" Yasashiku asked.

"I told you I read books." I answered, my voice rising with every word.

"Alright, alright! No need to get snippy." He said.

"Look, if you're so worried why don't Kenshin and I open them?" I asked him.

"Hey! Just because I was trying to be careful, doesn't mean you have to treat me like a coward."

"Okay, will you two just SHUT THE HELL UP?!" Kenshin screamed, it worked.

Yasashiku and I stared at him in disbelief, I don't ever remember him talking in a louder then a 6 inch voice.

"Um...okay. You two can open them if you want." I said, talking them out of my pack and handing one to each of them; Kenshin took the heaven, Yasashiku the earth.

They opened it and the scrolls began to smoke. The twins threw them in the opposite direction and out popped...

"Ayumi?!" We all cried.

She smiled, "Hey you guys! Man have I been worried. Congratulations! All three of you have made it to the final rounds of the Chuunin Exams."

We were still a little shocked. Ayumi examined each of us; first Yasashiku, who still had blood stains in his white-ish hair. Then me, who had dark shadows under my eyes and paler skin, which I knew clashed horribly with my silver hair. "Roza, have you been eating lately?" Ayumi asked, "You looked thinner."

I blushed at the fact that she was saying this in front of two boys but I answered, "No, I haven't eaten."

There was no more discussion on that subject when she flickered her eyes towards Kenshin, who had a deep wound in the side of his head and the front of this forearm.

"My God! You look terrible!"

"But I feel fine."

"How the hell does that work?"

"Roza's good with plants." Yasashiku said.

Ayumi looked at me, "You didn't tell me that."

"Um...you didn't ask. Did you?" I answered sleepily.

"On the upside," Yasashiku continued, "Now if one of us gets poison oak, we'll be covered."

"Guess so." Ayumi said, "Okay, seeing how you guys came a day early..."

"Wait! What do you mean one day. I thought we had two more days."

"No...This is the fourth day." Kenshin said.

"But..." I stared.

"Didn't you say that you passed out on the first day?" Yasashiku asked.

"Well, actually, yes." I said, a little embarrassed.

"Why did you pass out?" Ayumi asked.

"Long story for another day." I answered.

Ayumi didn't push on, she just said, "As I was saying; seeing how you came a day early, you get to relax. Just rest because tomorrow either everyone will be coming, or no one." Then she went to a door and opened it for us.

She led us to a room, "They told me only one room per team."

'It's a good thing I don't sleep.' I thought.

It turned out none of us sleep. The twins were just sitting back to back on the floor; I was on the opposite side of the room, writing in my notebook;

_Okay, I just finished the second part of the Chuunin exams. Man was it hell. At one point I ran away from Kenshin and Yasashiku. Big mistake. I had to watch this red-head kill three of the probably toughest ninjas...in only five seconds. Then I was stupid enough to jump between three more ninjas and the killer red head. But then again I found out it was Shino, Kiba and Hinata. I don't know why but the killer didn't kill me, there was a perfect opportunity to kill me, I was frozen in my place. Then two days later I do the same thing to the twins and he didn't kill me AGAIN! _

I stopped writing and yawned, trying to keep my eyes open, but I closed them anyway and yelped.

"What happened?" Kenshin asked, standing up, his brother falling backwards.

"Nothing, it was just...nothing." I said franticly.

"Tell us now, Roza. You've been acting very strange lately." Yasashiku said, also standing up.

"I said it was nothing." I said firmly, but my voice still cracked.

"Just tell us, we won't be angry." they said in unison.

"I just...it was...I just stabbed myself, okay. It's nothing." I lied.

* * *

The next day, we went to a big hall right outside the front doors. Everyone who made it was told to line up, leaders first.

All the rookies of Konoha had made it, Kabuto's team made it, another team from Konoha that had a boy with a horrible beetle hair cut, the team with the red-haired killer, and another team that I didn't know.

"Congratulations," Lord Hokage said from the front of the hall, "to those who made it through the forest safely. This part of the exam will be one on one battles. We will pair you up at random and you will fight that person. We have all your names in a computer that will do that for us."

As he was saying that, a tile from the wall opened and there was a blank computer screen. But then, appeared in front of Lord Hokage, kneeling. "Sorry I am late, Lord Hokage."

"No problem, Hayate, you may take it from here." Hokage said. The man turned around and he was a mess.

He had dark shadows and lines under his eyes and he was coughing nonstop. 'Poor guy, does every proctor have a problem?' I thought, remembering Ibiki who looked as though he had been tortured and Anko who had a strange craving for blood; they were both in the hall with all the sensei's Hayate and Lord Hokage.

"Um...my name is Hayate, and I will be the proctor for the third part of the Chuunin Exams. As Lord Hokage already explained to you, you will be having one on ones. Seeing how there is an odd number of ninjas here, anyone may give up."

"Who would want to give up when we came so far?" Naruto said from a distance.

"I give." A voice said, I didn't bother to look. 'Good, less competition.' I thought.

There was a conversation going on, but it soon ended. "Okay..." Hayate continued, "Anyone else want to give up." Nobody raised there hands.

"Okay..." he coughed again, "Seeing how there are still too many of you; we will start with a preliminary round. And the first match is..." one the screen a bunch of names were shuffling. Then it was Sasuke against one of Kabuto's team members.

"Will those whose names are on the screen please step up? And everyone else meet with your Sensei and wait on the bleachers above."

As Sasuke and Kabuto's team member got to the middle of the hall, everyone else met with their Sensei and walked up the stairs to the bleachers. My team was the last to leave the floor.

"You may begin."

The battle wasn't very exciting. Sasuke was already losing; he couldn't dodge anything and was pinned to the floor. His opponent had his hand on Sasuke's head and Sasuke himself was yelling like a trapped animal. "What's he doing?" Kenshin muttered. Ayumi shrugged, "Probably sucking out his chakra."

There was a turn of events, but I didn't pay attention. "The winner is Sasuke." was all I heard. The next battle was me and...someone's name I couldn't pronounce.

When I got to the floor, again, Hayate said, "You may begin."

Nothing really happened, I just stared at the ninja long and hard, thinking of what I should do. 'I would use my bugs, but something tells me it's not a very good idea. I could use my whip, yeah, that'd be good. But it has to be a surprise.'

"What are you going to do, stare me to death?" the ninja said, chuckling with his eyes closed.

Big mistake.

I took out my whip in a blink of an eye and wrapped it around his whole body. "What the hell is this?"

"Its a thorn whip. I made it myself. It's very effective when someone isn't paying attention." I pulled on the whip and he screamed. But through his screams be said, "I am not going to lose to a girl."

That made me angry; I pulled the whip and it spun off. He was dumbfounded and I punched him in the mouth, the head, and the eye. But then I thought, 'What the hell am I doing?' I kneed him in the groin and heard a crack, and a blood curdling scream that deafened me. The ninja in front of me held between his legs and fell, but before Hayate could call off the battle, I said, "You sexist bastatard."

"The winner is Roza."

I went back up the bleachers and Ayumi said, "Why didn't you just keep the whip on?"

"He's a sexist; I wanted him to suffer instead of die."

The twins twitched when I said die, but I didn't bother asking.

"Next battle; Aburame Shino and Zaku."

'This ought to be good' I thought, paying attention. But noticing that Shino opponent had both arm broken.

They spoke for a while, and then Zaku ran at Shino. Shino just blocked the punch easily and a very foolish, annoying, girlish, totally-not-like-me-in-any-way voice said in my head for a reason I hope to never ever know, 'He's so dreamy!'

The voice made me blush so I shook my head. 'God I sound like one of Sasuke's fangirls...Ewww.'

I came back to reality when I saw that Shino was blown off his feet by a mysterious wind. There was smoke everywhere and I couldn't see much, only Zaku standing up with one arm out of his sash...thing.

The smoke cleared and Shino stood up with bugs crawling all over his body; Zaku seemed surprised. They stood there, looking at each other, until Zaku took his other arm out of the sash. He went to attack Shino but his arms exploded.

"That's gonna hurt." I said quietly.

"What is it with you?" Kenshin asked.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" I asked surprised.

"It's almost like you don't feel bad for anyone who is seriously injured."

"Oh really." I said sarcastically, "What about you? I helped you, didn't I? I put myself in danger to help you both; you were unconscious for that, but still. If you want me to not care, then maybe I should just leave you alone." The speech was unnecessary but I didn't feel like arguing.

He shut up after that, and we just stared at each other. "Alright break it up you two." Ayumi said, waving her hand in between us. But we continued to stare; three short matches went by and we didn't stop glaring.

I broke the stare and looked at the monitor, what it said almost made me cry; Kenshin vs. Yasashiku.

My face went pale when I looked at him again, this time with shock. "What is it?" he growled, though there was a little concern in this voice.

"You...Yasashiku." was all I could manage.

He looked at the screen and I saw fright in his eyes. I looked at Yasashiku who was looking at the screen, motionless with no expression.

"Ayumi-sensei, can that happen?" Yasashiku asked in a hoarse voice.

Ayumi nodded her head and said, "Whatever the screen says has to be done. I'm sorry, but you guys have to fight or one of you has to give up."

"Um...Kenshin and Yasashiku, please come to the floor." Hayate said, with more coughs in between words.

"Let's just get it over with." Kenshin said, shakily. Yasashiku nodded and they made there way to the floor.

"Ayumi-sensei?" I asked.

"Yes, Roza?"

"Do I have to watch this?"

"No, you may look away if you wish."

I walked away from my spot to a door I knew led out of the big hall.

"Hey, Roza. Where are you going?"

I turned around to see Naruto, Sakura and a man with gray hair looking at me.

"No where. I...just no where." I answered, turning my back again.

"Wait..." Naruto started.

"Just be quiet, Naruto." an unfamiliar voice said. 'Probably his sensei.' I thought.

"But she's going to miss her teammates match."

"Naruto, shut up." Sakura said, and then the older man whispered in Naruto's ear, "Her teammates are brothers, Naruto. She probably doesn't want to see them fight each other."

"Ohhh..."

I continued walking away and found a bathroom. I stayed in there for the rest of 10 minutes, then left.

Right on time too, when I got there, the last match was being placed; Choji vs. Dosu.

I didn't bother to watch it as I went back to Ayumi; neither brother was there.

"What happened?" I asked.

"All the winners need to go to the floor now, Roza." was all she said.

I went down the stairs and got in line last.

"Congratulations, you all make it to the final rounds." Lord Hokage said with a smile. "The final rounds will begin in exactly one month from today."

Naruto groaned and said something I didn't want to hear; Kenshin wasn't in the room, but Yasashiku was with Ayumi.

"You all need to take a number from this box." Ibiki said, passing it around.

I looked at my number; 12.

"Alright, now say your number from left to right."

"5"

"1"

"11"

"4"

"3"

"2"

"10"

"6"

"8"

"9"

"12"

"Then that just leaves Sasuke with 7, correct? Good. Now, here is who you will battle in one month." Lord Hokage said, and Ibiki held up a piece of paper with the numbers on them; 1vs. 2 and so on. I was to battle 11...I had no clue who the hell he was.

"Now that you know who you are battling, go see your sensei and get training. The finals will take place at the Battle Arena."

'Couldn't have picked a better place.'

I met up with Ayumi and Yasashiku. None of us said anything as we walked out the doors first.


	18. Training and a Demand

Yasashiku avoided me from then on out. I never had the chance to talk to him because I was always training with Ayumi from dawn to dusk, and it was never easy. It was as though this new Ayumi had emerged, a tougher one. At least, that's how it's been since I told her about my chakra control problems.

"You're lucky to even be alive!" she said the day I told her. "We will start from dawn 'til dusk on the Water Walking Technique." Like I said; dawn to dusk.

"Alright, now focus some of your chakra to the bottoms of both feet. Good." she was saying again today. It was the third day of my precious month; I had to get better at this.

"Now, walk onto the surface of the water, keeping that focus."

I did, but fell in immediately. "Your not trying hard enough. You need to keep focus at all costs."

"But won't that just wear me out?" I asked, climbing back to dry land. 'Damn!! That one time and already I'm out of breath. This is going to be a long month.'

"That is why we do training." She said gravely, "Now try again."

I did, but the same thing happened...three times.

I tried and tried, but the sun took forever to just rise. "Can I take a break?" I complained for the first time in probably my life, and this is how she reacts...only louder.

"NO! YOU HAVEN'T ACCOMPLISHED ANYTHING! KEEP TRYING!"

She reminded me so much of my drunk father it made me cringe. "Okay..." I said softly, trying again with all my might.

I fell again, but I knew I stayed on the surface longer that time. I winced when I saw Ayumi give me her hand to help; I was still a little shaken.

I grabbed her hand and her eyes softened, "Not bad," she said, "Your getting better."

Training continued and I could feel myself getting stronger. Then, in early evening, I didn't fall in.

I wasn't exactly on the surface either, just ankle deep. But all the training made me more assertive; I released the focus as self-punishment.

I broke through the surface and Ayumi asked, "Did you do that on your own? The falling part?"

"Yeah, it wasn't good enough. I'll try again."

I focused again, harder this time, much harder. Mistake.

I stepped onto the water again and stayed on the surface for a whole minute. I could feel faint in those 60 seconds and blacked out when they were up.

It was a good thing I was on water because it woke me up, but I was still too weak to move. But it didn't matter because I could feel myself floating to the surface.

'What is this? I don't feel anyone pulling me up?'

"Roza? _Roza!_" I felt someone pulling me up now.

My eyes were open and blank from what just happened. 'Why did she act as though I were already dead? I feel fine.'

"Roza! Are you okay?"

"Yeah...I'm fine?" I said indifferently.

"Were you just drowning?" she wondered.

"No...I wasn't down there for long."

"Then why were you floating."

I shrugged. She tried to pick me up but used too much force and I was thrown into the air.

"No wonder why. You're light as a feather." She tried to catch me but missed. "And hard as a rock." she added.

I stood up, swaying a little because my chakra was so low, Ayumi held me up. "Come on. I'll get you something to eat."

We walked off the pier we were using and headed back towards the village, I was still a little unsteady so Ayumi held me by the shoulders. 'Now's my chance!'

"Ayumi-sensei?" I asked.

"Hm..."

"What...happened to Kenshin?"

She opened he mouth, closed it, opened it and closed it again. She obviously wasn't going to tell me, but I had to find out.

"Ayumi-sensei!" yelled Yasashiku as he ran towards us.

"Yasashiku! Hey!" Ayumi cried with more enthusiasm then necessary.

"Ayumi-sensei..." he broke off when he saw lift my bowed head.

"Hello, Yasashiku." I said, friendly.

"Hi, Roza! How's training?" he asked

"I'll live...hopefully." I could wait any longer. "Where's Kenshin? I haven't seen him in a few days."

"Um..." he started. It was a good thing all this training made me patient, I could have pinned him to a tree and held a kunai to his neck, demanding to tell me.

"Go ahead, Yasashiku. She has the right to know. We were on our way to get something to eat, why don't we tell her then."

I could have ran to the restaurant, but one; I was too weak and tired. And two; it would be embarrassing not being able to walk in a strait line.

When we got there we got a quick seat, ordered and then it was silent.

"Okay," I started, calmly bur grimly, "I want to know where Kenshin is, and I want to know now."

"Okay, when I had to fight him...nothing was getting accomplished. Before we started, he told me to pretend it was just a friendly spar. But when we started...sparring, he was acting a little weird. I noticed his eyes were filled with hate...and I sensed they were for me." he stopped, took a sip of tea, and continued, "The fight was no longer friendly, I felt like it was a fight to the death. This was bad considering the De...the circumstances."

I knew he wanted to say 'Demon.' I didn't want to here more, but Yasashiku was probably holding all this in, he needed to tell someone.

"I knew why I saw the hate. Kenshin always got like this in a fight." he continued, "I couldn't take it anymore. I hated seeing the hate...the hate for _me._"

"Do what happened next?" I asked after a long pause.

He opened his mouth but the cheery waitress put all our food on the table saying, "I hope you enjoy it! I will be back to check on you! Ha ha!" very loudly.

"Continue, Yasashiku!" I growled.

"IT came out, but not entirely, I still had a little control. We were in the air and Kenshin lost his focus. I...IT swung at Kenshin and Kenshin was blown into the ground, head first. Did you notice a hole in the floor?"

I recalled coming out of the bathroom. "Yeah, it was rather deep." ((I didn't mention the hole before...I don't think, but it was there!)).

Then I gasped. "You mean...?"

He nodded.

"So...is he okay?" I asked, my voice scratchy.

"That's why I came to see Ayumi." he turned to her, "He suffered a lot of head trauma, but should be fine within the next few weeks."

Ayumi nodded her head once and began eating. I started to on the big plate of food she ordered for me.

As I ate, I realized something, "Wait, if Kenshin had to be hospitalized, then doesn't that mean you should go to the finals with me?"

"I quit. They wouldn't let me at first, but I told them he was my brother and I didn't want to continue without him. Lord Hokage understood and disqualified both of us."

I understood too, though not very much. I never had a sibling so I didn't know anything about 'brotherly love' or anything. I hardly knew about friendship! But I knew a little something about love itself. Then I remembered a conversation I had with Auntie when I was really young.

"_Good night, Roza." Auntie said warmly as she tucked me into bed. "I love you."_

"_Auntie?" I asked._

"_Yes dear?"_

"_What's 'love'?"_

_She seemed surprised by the question._

"_Love can be many things, Roza. Love can be when you feel a great longing for someone you like to be with. Or perhaps someone who is precious to you. Or even someone you want to protect."_

"_What kind of love is the one you have for me?"_

"_I guess...I have all three definitions of love for you, Roza." and then she smiled, kissed me on my forehead, and left without another word._

"Roza? You still with us?"

I snapped out of my flashback. "What?"

"I asked you if you were going to even eat today." Ayumi asked. Her food was already almost finished. Mine lay almost completely untouched.

"Um...yeah." I began eating very quickly as to not hold them up any longer. The food gave me strength enough to breath properly. Ayumi noticed.

"Maybe I should take you out more often." she smiled.

"No...I just didn't know how hungry I was." I smiled back. "Hey, Yasashiku? Can we visit Kenshin when we're done?"

"Um...I don't know if they'll let us in now; visiting hours are about up."

"Oh...okay." the smile disappeared.

Ayumi didn't like that, "We'll visit tomorrow before training." she said firmly.

"But what happened 'from down 'til dusk?'" I asked.

"You've made some progress. A few minutes visiting will probably be healthy for you."

"O...okay."

"Did everyone enjoy their meals? Ha ha!" the annoying waitress said.

"Yes, we did. May we have our bill please?" Ayumi asked.

"Sure thing! Ha ha!" she pulled out her notebook and ripped out a page. She put it on the table.

"Have a nice day! Ha ha!" when she left I thought I saw her twitch.

"Can we please leave? That girl creeps me out!" I whispered.

"Way ahead of you!" Ayumi whispered back, putting some money on the table and leaving with Yasashiku and me.

Ayumi walked us to the Inn and waved us good-bye. Me and my teammate walked in and were greeted by Auntie.

"Hello, dearies. How was training today Roza?"

"It was great! I almost have that Water Walking Technique down!" I answered.

"That's wonderful honey!" she didn't sound like it was wonderful though.

Before I could ask, she said, "Roza...I have to talk to you alone." she threw a quick glance at Yasashiku, who understood and left up the stairs.

"What is it Auntie?" I asked.

"Have you been...What have you been doing lately?"

"Training."

"Oh...What about before the Exams started? Have you been hanging out with...anyone in particular?"

"Well...Yasashiku, Kenshin, Ayumi."

"Anyone else?"

I thought hard and remembered Shino and his family.

"Well...I have been speaking to Shino. Aburame Shino."

I heard her take in a deep breath. "Did you say 'Aburame?'"

"Yeah...why?" I wasn't sure if I was supposed to know about her and Shibi yet...or at all.

"Listen closely, Roza; Do not go anywhere near that clan again." her word cut through me like a knife.

"What...?"

"You heard me!" she was no longer nice. "Never!"

I didn't understand. I liked them. They saved me a couple times and I owed them my life...almost. Plus I had a strange crush for Shino. He was nice. I never had any friends in the academy, there were just those who were mean, and those who ignored. Shino wasn't in the mean group.

"I'm sorry, Auntie." I said, not even knowing what I was saying, "But it's too late for that."

I knew I hurt her. I hated doing it. After everything she's done fore me, I felt like...killing myself. But I knew it would only make things worse.

I walked past her up to my room. When I got there I plopped on the bed, buried my face in the mattress and screamed as hard as I could.


	19. A Talk and a Visit

**Warning: Brief drug usage. **

* * *

Once I finished screaming into nothingness, I had the strongest urge to move around, to hurt someone or break something. My legs moved of their own accord as I walked to the mirror.

My appearance was a complete mess; my hair was sticking up in some places. My skin was so pale I could have easily been mistaken for a vampire. I had the darkest shadows under my eyes, bruise like.

I was very angry, although I didn't know why. I had to do something to soothe the anger. So I punched my own reflection.

I watched as the string-like cracks appeared on my shadows face. I felt the warm blood drip from my knuckles. It hurt, of course, but I was too angry to notice.

'Why am I so upset?' I asked myself. 'Do I like Shino so much that I'm willing to disobey the first one who's ever loved me? Or am I just upset that both Shibi and Auntie held this grudge for so long?'

I'll never know what it was, at least not now.

I went to the roof to stare at the gorgeous full moon; harvest moon. It relaxed me so much.

I heard a soft rustling from behind me and a voice asked, "May I join you?" It was Yasashiku.

I nodded once and heard him sit next to me.

"So..." he said after a while. He wasn't here to relax, he was here to talk.

"Did you here anything Auntie told me?" I asked him, respecting his wishes.

"Only some," he said, guilt in his voice, "Sorry."

"Which part did you hear?"

"Um...the part with the Aburame kid."

"I was afraid of that." I muttered.

"What do you see in a kid like him?"

"Why would you want to know that?"

He muttered something very softly to himself, although I thought I heard the words "future reference."

"Well, he's nice for one thing. And, I don't know...he makes me feel...weird."

"Weird how?" there was a little regret in his tone.

"I've never felt this way before. It isn't unpleasant, I actually like it...I feel like there are butterflies in my stomach."

I looked at Yasashiku and he made a face.

"What?"

"You love him!" it wasn't a question.

The word love made my face go hot, but it also made me feel guilty. I pretended there was something in my eye, but he grabbed my hand and examined the back of it.

"What happened to your knuckles?"

"Oh...well...I sort of got mad before." my face flushed redder.

"So you cut your knuckles?"

"What? No! I punched my reflection in the mirror."

"Holy crap! You a little messed up, Roza! But you don't need to get mad at your appearance!"

"Are you saying I'm ugly?" I said, pretending to be mad. He seemed to think it was real anger.

"Oh, no! I mean you just look a little tired."

I laughed, "I was kidding, Yasashiku."

"Oh...right." It was his turn to blush.

I wanted to get off the sleep topic; there was no way I would put him down twice in one night. So we spoke a while longer about nothing in particular, mostly about the Chuunin Exams.

"That written test drove me nuts! I just wanted to crumple up the paper and shove it up his ass or something!"

"Good thing you didn't; anyone surviving with that many injuries must be a tough cookie. Besides, he probably wouldn't even notice."

"Until he went to the bathroom." he said.

"True."

We laughed and spoke more, this time about the preliminaries, but we skipped around the Battle of the Fraternal Twin Brothers.

"Hey, you know those girls, Ino and Sakura?" Yasashiku asked.

"Yeah, Sakura isn't bad, just _really _annoying. And Ino...well lets just say I want to rip out her insides through her eyes." I said grimly.

His eyes went wide, "Is that even possible?"

"Who knows? Someday she may piss me off and we'll find out."

We talked more, he told me about Naruto's fight with Kiba.

"...and then, he multiplied himself and kicked Kiba, face first, into the ground so hard, I could have sworn his skull cracked."

"It probably did."

"He sort of looks weird."

"What do you mean?"

"Well he has...K9 features."

"And? I look like a vampire."

"True. You aren't one, right?"

"You never know." I said, looking back at the moon.

"He's also very gang-like." Yasashiku continued.

"Yeah, but he was never mean to me, so I can't hate him."

"Yeah."

"You know what time it is?" he asked.

"Um..." I looked at the moon, "3:30 A.M."

He looked at the moon, then me, and then he stood up and went inside. He came back a while later saying "Okay, how do you know that?"

I laughed at this reaction, and ran back inside. He chased me quietly, but we stopped when we were outside his room. "Bye, Yasashiku. See you in three hours."'

"Yeah, bye." he opened the door and went inside

* * *

**The Next Day:**

'I can't believe I'm doing this!' I thought to myself, swallowing the pill.

Suddenly, as the drug went down my throat, I felt less tired.

'Wow! That worked.' I put the bottle of Wake Me Up pills back in the medicine cabinet.

Someone knocked at my door, "Come in! It's open." I called, brushing my hair.

I heard the door open and close and heard Yasashiku's voice call, "Roza? Where are you?"

"I'm in the bathroom brushing my hair."

He walked to my bathroom doorway and looked me over, "Wow! Did you get sleep last night?"

"No...I was on thee roof with you. Remember?"

"Oh...then how about this morning?"

I gave him a guilty stare, "No."

"Really? Because you don't look much like a vampire anymore."

"Huh?" I looked in the mirror I hadn't cracked. "Probably a side effect." I said out loud.

"Side effect for what?" he asked suspicious.

"Oops. Did I say that out load?"

"Yeah.

"It's nothing. Let's go visit Kenshin."

We walked in silence. Auntie wasn't waiting to say good-bye to me at the door today, it almost made me cry.

When we go to the hospital, Ayumi stood up from her seat; she had been waiting for us.

"Wow Roza!" she said, also looking me over, "You look healthier!"

'Yeah, because taking a drug to wake me up after not sleeping for almost a month is the healthiest thing I've ever done.' I thought sarcastically.

"Right, can we just see Kenshin?" I asked. I didn't think she or Yasashiku would like my drug taking.

"Not yet, visiting hours aren't for another five minutes." she sat back down in her chair and Yasashiku and me on either side of her.

Five minutes felt more like five centuries, but it came and the nurse allowed us in.

Kenshin was very still in the bed; an IV was stuck in his wrist and he was breathing from a tube. His forehead was wrapped, covering only his hair.

"He looks pretty bad." Yasashiku croaked.

I wanted to say something to make him feel better. I took a vile from my pocket and examined the bright green liquid.

"What's that?" Ayumi asked.

"Can't tell you what's in it, but I can make Kenshin's wounds heal faster."

"Oh, well, put it in! What does he need to do? Drink it?"

"No" I shook my head, "It need to be injected in his bloodstream. I can do it, but it is going to be more painful then needed to be if it heals at a regular pace. I am asking your permission to inject it on my own. This is a dangerous substance that, if meddled with in the wrong way, can kill."

I heard him swallow, "And you're sure you know how to do it?"

I ripped off the bandages covering my shoulder; there wasn't even a scar, "I'm sure."

"Okay. I trust you."

"I need your help too, Ayumi. He can't scream or move too much and Yasashiku can't do both."

"Sure, anything to save my teammate, but you and I will be having a talk during training."

"Fair enough." I took out a small tin and opened it. Inside were the materials for a shot. I put the pieces together and put the green liquid into the clear container. I took the bandages off Kenshins forehead and cleaned it. Then I put on rubber gloves.

"Wait, you need it on the head?" Yasashiku asked.

"Do you trust me?" I asked.

"Well...yeah but..."

"Would you rather have me do it or someone you don't know. Someone whose never held a substance like this."

"You."

"Okay, Ayumi you hold down his body and Yasashiku you cover his mouth."

"But...the tube."

"Trust me!"

"Okay!" they obeyed my orders and I quickly jabbed in the needle. Kenshin shot u[ like a blot, screaming.

"Yasashiku!"

He grabbed his brothers' head from behind and pulled it back from the mouth.

* * *

**Meanwhile, in a not-so-far-away-place, Orochimaru and Kabuto were talking about the Exams: ((normal POV))**

"So, the curse mark was a success?" Kabuto asked.

"Yes of course, Kabuto. And did you get any information on anyone?" Orochimaru asked.

"Yes, but there is someone I'm curious about." he took out his cards and three of them had some information about Kenshin, Yasashiku and Roza.

"I don't have much on the two boys because they came from another village, but the girl seemed to have a dark past."

"Really?" Orochimaru said, taking the card with the girl info on it. "Hmmm...It seems her parents were murdered and then the house got burnt down. Clever killer. And she was brought up by an Inn Keeper..." he looked at the name, "Excellent!" he licked his lips with a long tough. "Just excellent!"

"What is it, Lord Orochimaru?" Kabuto asked.

"I happen to know this girls'...guardian. She's very easy to trick." then he gave out a deep sigh, "I almost feel bad about attacking the village while she is still here. Almost." he licked his lips again. "Kabuto, I think I'm going to have some cruel fun with this Roza child."

**

* * *

Back at the Hospital, Ayumi, Yasashiku, and Roza were still retraining Kenshin, who was screaming loudly even by Yasashiku's hold: ((Roza's POV)) **

"Hey, who screaming?" someone asked from outside the closed door.

"I think it's in this room." another voice said.

"Shit!" I whispered, creating two clone of myself to keep the door shut. I still slowly injected the liquid, any faster and Kenshin could die right there.

"Good," Ayumi said, "He's calming down."

She was right, Kenshin's muffled screams were softer and his eyelids were slowly covering his eyes.

Finally, the injection was complete. Yasashiku and Ayumi were panting from the effort while I cleaned the small puncture and recovered his forehead.

"So...how...long...will...he...be...out?" Yasashiku asked between breaths.

"Probably...for the rest of the week: he should be able to actually leave by Friday." I said.

"Why don't you want anyone to know about this?" Ayumi asked.

"Because if anyone did this any different then I did, then the person whom they were injecting would die."

"What?!" Yasashiku yelled, no longer panting, but I didn't dare look at him. "You mean if anything went wrong, my brother would have died?!"

"You have to understand, Yasashiku..." I started, but he interrupted.

"Understand what?!"

"Understand that I am the creator of this substance. So only I know how to deal with it properly and without the side effects."

"Side effects?" he croaked. "What do you mean side effects?"

"I mean, that your brother is pretty damn lucky."

"What would be the worst of it?"

"Dying." I said flatly.

"And you still went through with it?"

"Now understand, Yasashiku, I knew Kenshin was going to be alright. I knew nothing would go wrong, and I also understood that the side effects would not take place."

"But..." he paused; I knew what he was going to ask.

"Are your brothers limbs still attached to his body?" I asked.

"Yes..."

"Is he still alive?"

"Yes..."

"And does he no longer need a tube to breathe through?"

He looked at the tube on the bedside table and nodded.

"Those were the only side effects of the substance. May not seem like much, but this stuff is the most painful way to die. It kills you from the inside out...the normal death of this stuff could take weeks of pain. The reason why I know it's not affecting Kenshin in this way is because he stopped screaming."

Nobody said anything else, except for the two men in the hall still struggling to get in; my clones stayed on guard.

"I think we're all set." Ayumi said, "Although the two outside have probably multiplied to a crowd. How are we going to get out?"

"The window." Yasashiku said before I could open my mouth. He jumped out first, the Ayumi. I as in the window sill before I got rid of the clones, then I jumped and we all ran silently to the forest where I was to be training at.


	20. A Full Day of Training

"Alright, let's take a break." Ayumi said, stopping.

I sank to my knees, too tired to even speak. Yasashiku soon joined my, but he was breathing harder then me.

"Now, Roza, it seems as though you've...'forgotten'...to tell us that you're a pretty good doctor." Ayumi started, "But I asked you; why didn't you tell us?"

"B...b..." I cough a few times. I was too out of breath to speak, so I shook my head, hoping she would understand.

She didn't, "Um...what are you saying?"

"You..." I coughed, "never...asked." I said between breaths.

"Well, you never brought it up. But I won't tell anyone and neither will Yasashiku, but you will tell someone."

"How...do...you know?" my breath was slowly coming back.

"Because nobody can take a secret to the grave."

She was right, totally right. I haven't been able to keep any of my major secrets, like my parents' death, my sugar issue, and what I fear the most. I even told Yasashiku who I like! And I wasn't able to keep my doctor secret.

"Something wrong?" Ayumi asked, anxious.

"Your right, I've told or showed people all of my secrets; I have nothing to take me to the grave." I laughed a little.

"What's so funny?" Yasashiku asked.

"Just the thought."

"So," Ayumi said, "Are you ready to train?"

"I just sprinted ten miles." I said.

"Builds character. See how you still haven't got the Water Walking Technique down, then we will practice some more. Yasashiku, I will repeat the step so that you can practice with us." She led us a little more into the forest we were in, then I noticed we were in the meadow.

"Oh!" I said.

"I thought you might like it here, Roza." Ayumi said. Then she turned to Yasashiku and explained the steps while I did them. "You got that, Yasashiku?" she asked when we made it to the stream.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Both do it at the same time."

We both walked forward, I closed my eyes so that the water wouldn't burn them. It was good thinking; I fell in.

I broke the surface and saw that Yasashiku was still on the water. "Son of a ..." I whispered.

"Try again, Roza, this time just a little more chakra." Ayumi said.

"Okay." I said, getting out of the water. I focused more and walked forward, this time I didn't fall. I looked at Yasashiku, but he just smiled, crossed his arms and fell strait down into the water.

"Congratulations! You have now mastered Water Walking." Ayumi said, "Now can teach you something simpler. Tree Climbing."

"Um...I already know how to climb trees." I said.

"Do you know how without using your hands?"

"Um...no."

"Well, today's your lucky day. Yasashiku, get out the water and I'll teach you both."

His head popped out as I walked to the road.

"You do the same thing as Water Walking, but not as much chakra." Ayumi said.

I tried it and walked up a tree, it was easy. I made it to the top without breaking a sweat. When I made it all the way to the top, Ayumi shouted from below, "Okay! Now get down and we can keep going."

I walked down; as I got closer I saw that Yasashiku was having trouble. 'Serves him right for showing off.' I thought.

I was finally upright, it felt a little weird.

"I'm impressed." Ayumi told me while Yasashiku was making more progress, "You have pretty much mastered chakra control. Maybe you should sleep more often."

'Wow, maybe I should take drugs more often...no...I don't like it. I think the side effects are starting anyway.' I thought, feeling a bit more hyper then necessary.

"Now, I'm going to tell you about Elemental Jutsu. Now the four main elements are of course, Water, Fire, Wind, and Earth. But there are also Wood, Sound and..."

I interrupted her, "Ice."

She blinked, "Yes...anyway, you need to know your main element, what do you think it is?"

I thought for a moment, "Water."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because can be anything; it can soothe, but also hurt, it can be a defense but also offence...it can heal but in some cases kill."

"So you call yourself a killer?"

I thought about something very random, something that popped into my head. I remembered the mission I went on, the one in the land of waves. I remembered Ayumi telling me that blood can help give me strength but only because I've killed before. Then I remembered Yasashiku asking me if I was a vampire...it made me laugh at the thought.

"Does that mean yes?" Ayumi asked.

"Well...in a way we're all killers." I was no longer laughing.

"Why?" Yasashiku asked, falling yet again.

"Because, killing isn't really just stabbing a knife through someone, you can kill them mentally."

They both looked at me, so I changed the subject, "So, how 'bout them elemental jutsu."

"Right, I'll demonstrate a defense water jutsu." she did multiple handsigns which I already knew. "Water Element: Water Prison Jutsu!" she said, then she extended her hand to me and I was in a huge ball of water in the air. I tried to get out, but the water was hard as steel. "Roza!" Yasashiku yelled.

Ayumi took her hand out and I fell to the ground. "Water Prison, very useful. But it also has disadvantages, like how you have to keep your hand in it at all times, or it will disappear. Now, I will do the handsigns slowly and you have to remember them."

She did, and I soon got them down. I tried it but nothing happened. "Try again." Ayumi said. I did; still nothing.

I tried again and again and again, but all my attempts were failed and I soon got weaker and weaker. "Come on." I said, failing yet again.

"Alright, now one thing you have to know is to not overdue anything. You use only the precise amount of chakra needed to do any jutsu, we'll stop here.

"But...it isn't dusk yet." Yasashiku said from the top of the tree.

"Yeah, but you both have mastered two jutsu in almost a day, I think you deserve a break." She said, "Now Yasashiku, I think you better get down before that branch breaks."

He obeyed and the three of us walked out of the soothing meadow. 'Cool! I'm getting stronger!'

Ayumi left me and Yasashiku alone by disappearing into thin air, 'I wonder when she will teach us that.' I thought.

"Now what?" Yasashiku asked.

"We could spar." I suggested.

"But we are both too out of chakra to."

"Right...so what _can_ we do?"

"Let's just...take a break."

We walked to nowhere in particular and we didn't say anything. Until we passed the same restaurant we went too yesterday.

"You hungry?" Yasashiku asked.

"A little, but the waitress we had yesterday scares me."

"Yeah she was a little to...eccentric. How about...a ramen place or something?"

"Sure, there's one only a block from here."

We walked in silence and when we got there we went under the curtain.

There were only two other people in the small shop; Naruto and a white haired man. We ordered two regular ramen's and waited. Naruto and the white haired man were talking about training, but sometimes the old man would stop short in a sentence but Naruto would quickly get his attention back by saying very loudly; "Hey! Pervy Sage!" That made me very uncomfortable.

We got our food and ate it very quickly without even speaking. Then we split the bill and went back to the Inn. It was already dark out so we both went to our rooms without saying anything.

I went to my mirror to find that the shadows under my eyes were completely gone. 'Shame it won't last.' I thought.


	21. More Training and a Swim

The next morning I didn't take the drug. I was too awake from practicing the Water Prison Jutsu while constantly plashing water in my face.

I heard a knock on the door, "Who is it?" I asked.

"Yasashiku."

"Hang on." I wiped my water-splashed face and ran a brush through my hair. I then went to my mirror but the crack reminded me that I broke it.

I opened the door and Yasashiku stood looking very tired, though he had the biggest of grins.

"What's going on this morning that makes you wish to smile?" I asked formally.

"Today is Friday." he said.

"And...?" I had no clue where this was going.

"Do you know what day it is tomorrow?"

"Saturday?"

"Do you know what will happen on Saturday?" he still had a smirk on his face, it made me wonder.

We started walking as I spoke, "More training? Look Yasashiku just spit it out!"

"Didn't you say tomorrow was the day Kenshin gets out of the hospital?" his smile slightly faded when I didn't answer right away.

"That is, if they let him, but he will be strong enough to move around by tomorrow, that's definite. Though it might take five more days before he can train with us. But..." I stopped talking when I noticed Auntie wasn't in her usual spot, waiting for me. I sighed sadly as I opened the door and walked in the direction of the meadow. Yasashiku caught up with me, "What's wrong?"

"I haven't seen Auntie in over two days. I'm getting worried."

"Don't worry; I'm sure she'll come around." I thought I heard a tone of bitterness, "Hey, did you sleep last night?"

"No, why?"

"You look tired again."

"So do you." I challenged.

"What made you look well slept yesterday?" He said, ignoring my challenge.

"Um...just the fact that...I spoke to someone." I said flatly.

I heard him mutter, "Sure," as Ayumi joined us in her normal, I'm-gonna-pop-out-of-nowhere-to-see-what-happens.

"Hello, Sensei." I said at the same time Yasashiku said, "Hi."

"You two ready to work on Elemental Jutsu again?" she asked, a little peppy.

"Uh..." I didn't make much progress with my late night training; all I really did do was burn off chakra.

"Well, read or not, you need a weapon." she said.

"Well...what about the choker you gave me? That should be good for long range and my whip is good for short range."

"Yeah, but the more you train the more chakra you get, thus the more bugs you can summon and control."

She had a point, and she knew it too because she smiled and continued walking. Yasashiku followed with me in the back.

I tried to think, 'How will I boost my chakra in ten minutes without letting Yasashiku and Ayumi know?' I felt around in my pockets for a chakra pill. There was one left. I swiftly popped it in my mouth and felt my chakra surround my body. Ayumi must have sensed something because she turned around to look at me, "You okay, Roza?"

"Yeah, fine why?" I asked, trying to sound surprised.

"No reason." She said, "Here we are."

The meadow was just as beautiful as always.

"Now, Yasashiku, about elemental jutsu..." she started, but Yasashiku interrupted her, "I can already do an Elemental Jutsu."

"Really? What element?"

"Fire."

"Wow! That's a tough one. Where did you learn it at such a young age?"

"My father taught me and Kenshin."

"Oh, so Kenshin can too?"

"Yeah, but he's better; he can light his katana without burning his hands."

"What Jutsu can you do?"

"Phoenix Flower."

"Show me." She demanded.

"Okay, watch out though, sometimes it gets a little...out of hand."

I got out of the way with Ayumi to the side. Yasashiku did a few handsigns and blew fire through his fingertips.

"Well, Roza, once you master your water element, you and Yasashiku can spar." Ayumi said.

I didn't answer. I felt so weak having to not know elemental jutsu. Ayumi noticed my sadness.

"Don't worry, you'll get them down in no time. I bet today you'll master both Water Prison and Mist."

"What does mist do?" I asked, as Yasashiku's fire faded.

"It covers the environment with a thick fog. It's so thick your enemy won't be able to see you."

"Sweet."

"Okay, now try that Water Prison while I teach Yasashiku about more fire jutsu."

"What will I use to...trap?"

She bit her thumb, performed some handsigns and pressed her hand to the ground. In a puff of smoke, eleven training dummies lay.

"You take one and I'll use the others for Yasashiku...you know...just in case."

I nodded while she gathered hers up and went to where Yasashiku stood, waiting.

'My God! I'm gonna look so stupid trying to surround a freaking dummy while Yasashiku burns them! Oh Hell!'

I had to try harder to trap it because I didn't want to look like a fool. I performed the signs and stretch out my hand. A small mist swirled around my hand for a second but disappeared. I tried again, this time with a bit more Chakra, same result.

I kept trying until finally the dummy was surrounded by solid water.

"Great job, Kid" Ayumi said, seeing my success. "Now I will teach you Mist while Yasashiku gets more control over Fire." I noticed her arm was wrapped in a place it wasn't this morning.

She performed handsigns, a lot more then the Water prison Jutsu needed, and soon a thick fog formed.

I couldn't see much of anything. But I did feel someone grab my arm and twist it behind my back. I yelped.

"See if you can get out." Ayumi's voice said from behind me. I twisted my whole body and faced her. I kicked her hard in stomach and found out it was just a training dummy.

Then I realized why she was doing this. I remembered when we first came to the meadow, the first training method we had together; I took out my kunai and felt around for a tree. When I found one I stuck my kunai in it, cupped my ear around the handle, and closed my eyes. I felt someone running at me very quickly. I waited until she was close enough and I blindly punched upward in the stomach.

"Excellent job, Roza!" Ayumi's voice said. She didn't sound like she just got punched in the gut, nor was she breathless. I opened my eyes to see Yasashiku doubled over, panting.

"Oh my God! Yasashiku I'm so sorry." I bent down and saw he was smiling, "It's...okay." he said between breaths.

I felt horrible as we walked back to town, "Yasashiku, next time we are in that situation, we are to whistle to each other, like a code or something."

"Yeah good idea." he said, his arms still wrapped a little lower then the stomach, "What part were you aiming for anyway?" he asked.

"The stomach." I said innocently, "Why?"

"Work on your aim." he grunted.

"I'll take you home," Ayumi offered. "You coming?" she asked me.

"Nah, I could use some fresh air for a change, and maybe more training." Really, I didn't want to see Auntie's spot empty.

I walked back to the meadow, not knowing exactly what to do. I went to the river, and the surface was just gorgeous. Without thinking I slipped off my boots, emptied the remains of my pockets and took off my weapon pouch. Then I went to the edge of the river and did an absolute perfect dive into the water.

I soon discovered that the river was a home to various see creature; a crab sideways walked across the see floor. A school of angle fish swam above my head and I noticed a starfish was perched lazily on a rock. All in all, it was beautiful.

I swan to the surface and took a deep breath. Then I went back under and followed a catfish downstream. Soon it got annoyed and splashed me in the face.

When I resurfaced, I noticed my boots were now right in front of me, 'What? I must've just swum a quarter of a mile. If anything, I should be looking for them.'

I got out of the water and look around to see if anyone else was with me. I then noticed a faint movement in the shadows, "Who's there?" I asked.

I heard the sound of someone running away. "Hey!" I said, following.

The wood was so thick I could hardly see where I was going, but I knew I was following someone from the sound of movement. I saw a piece of white fabric whip around the corner. I stopped running and leaned on the other side of the corner, breathing softly, but heavily. I heard that neither of us was running, 'Now or never, Roza.' a voice said inside me. I jumped around the corner and tackled...

"Shino!?"

"Um...hello, Roza."

"What...?" I started but he interrupted in a pained voice, "Could you get off me please?"

I realized I was sitting on his stomach, "Oh! I'm sorry." I said, getting off and giving him a hand up. "Were you watching me swim?" I asked.

"I was nearby. I almost jumped in when you didn't come up the first time." he answered sheepishly.

"Why?" I wasn't angry, just curious.

"I'm not going to let you drown!"

"Well, I guess that's a good reason." I tried to walk back but I stepped on a rock and screamed the nastiest of all swear words ((your choice, pick one ;D)).

I felt my face go hot and quickly said, "Sorry about my rude language."

A sound escaped his mouth. Laughter? "That's the first." he said.

"Fist what?"

"Not many people apologize for saying such words."

"Well, it was uncalled for for me to say such a nasty word." I tried to put my foot down, but it still throbbed.

"Need help?" he asked.

"Um...I'll get there...eventually."

"Do you know the way?"

I felt my face turn even redder, "Not really...no."

"Okay, I'll lead the way...unless." he glanced at my foot.

"Um...that won't be necessary, unless you're impatient."

"I'll live." He said, walking in front of me slowing to my pace occasionally.

I tried to put my foot down a few more times, but each time I stepped on more rocks. Then Shino stopped and pulled back a tangle of leaves; my boots, pouch, and pocket contents lay where they were before. "Wow." I said aloud, blushing a deeper shade of crimson. "Thanks, Shino, you're the best."

"Why? I just led you to your stuff."

"Yeah, but I would have been wondering around this thing and have gotten nowhere." I said, slipping my boots back on. He sat next to me and said, "Why don't you soak your foot, it might help."

"Okay," I said, but I continued staring at him.

"Um..."he said, "You okay?"

I jerked my head and looked away as I lowered my foot into the water. "Sorry, spaced out."

The water was delightful and I sighed happily. But the sigh soon turned sad when I remember Auntie.

"What's wrong?" he asked, as I took my foot out of the water and put my boots back on.

"I'm really sorry, Shino, but Auntie said I can not see you anymore." I said, holding back tears with all my might.

"Oh..." he said, a tone of absolute sadness was detected in his voice, "Well...bye then." he didn't move an inch while I gathered my things and left without another word. I went down the familiar path, a single sob escaped.

* * *

I walked through the doors of the Inn and found, to my surprise, Auntie wiping down the front desk. She didn't look up when she said, "Hello. What have you been up to?"

"Training." I said, bitterly.

"Oh...any..." she started, but I broke her off, knowing what she would ask.

"Yes, Auntie, I hung out with Shino! But _I_ was just being a good little girl and ditched him. Are you happy now?!" I stormed up the stairs to my room and cried in my pillow.


	22. The Attack and Losses

**okay, this is a really sad chapter, and all of you will probably nag me when you read it. but i want you to think of a couple of songs when you read some parts. It can be any song you want but it has to match what is wirtten. thanx.**

* * *

The next few weeks went by and I mastered both Water Prison and Mist. Also, Kenshin was back from the hospital and trained with us. Yasashiku and I never spoke to each other. I tried to tell myself that it was because he didn't forgive me for punching him, but I knew it was for another reason.

Shino acknowledged Auntie's request and I didn't see him throughout the rest of the month.

Auntie never made eye contact with me and I felt as though Ayumi was my only friend (seeing how Kenshin mostly ignored me anyway).

The month went by and the day of the finals arrived. I walked up to the arena and two shinobi greeted me at the doorway, I politely nodded to them.

In the already completely filled stadium, Neji, Shikamaru, and my opponent, Kaname, were the only ones there. Shikamaru greeted me, "Roza."

"Shikamaru." I greeted back. Neji ignored me.

The three sand ninja walked in, I found out their names were Kankuro, Temari and Gaara; Gaara was the deadly one.

Kaname walked up to me and said before I could really say anything, "You are a fool to think you could win."

The remark surprised me, but I stayed on guard, "You are a fool to be over confident."

"Unless you value your life, you should quit."

"Well, lucky for me I was planning suicide later."

The whole stadium went quiet. Kaname continued, "You must really want to lose."

"If I _really_ wanted to lose, I would have given up by now."

"Well, if that's how it is. Don't say I didn't warn you, Girl."

That made me angry; he very well knew my name was Roza. "Are you referring to the fact that just because I am a girl, I can't beat you?"

"Yes," he said, sneering.

I ran at him with very ounce of speed I had, he didn't even blink. Right when I was about to draw my kunai, someone grabbed my arm and stopped my running. "Save it for the match."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"The proctor."

"What about the other guy?" Shikamaru asked.

"Hayate will not be joining us today." then he turned to Kaname, "Save the insults, and you..." he twisted my arms, I yelped, "Save it for the fight."

He let go and walked away. I looked at Kaname, he was no longer sneering. I pretended to walk by him but whispered only loud enough for him to hear, "I'll kill you." and I continued walking.

The clock struck 12:00 and Naruto, Shikamaru, Neji, Kaname, Shino, Kankuro, Temari, Gaara and I stood in line as everyone applauded. Only two were missing; Sasuke and the sound ninja whose name I think was Dosu.

"Okay," the proctor started, "As you know, this is the final part of the Chuunin Exams. The same rules apply as the preliminaries. Here are your match-ups." he held up a piece of paper and on it, the matches; Naruto vs. Neji, Sasuke vs. Gaara, Kankuro vs. Shino, Temari vs. Shikamaru, Roza vs. Kaname.

"If all of you, except Naruto and Neji, please go up to the waiting room, we can begin. The exit is right there," he pointed, "following it up the stairs and you should end up over there." he pointed up to a hole in the stadium wall. We obeyed and Naruto and Neji faced each other.

When we were in the room, Naruto and Neji began.

"This is gonna be interesting." Shikamaru said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Neji's tough and fights with no mercy. But Naruto has gotten stronger. You missed both fights, didn't you, Roza?"

"Yeah..."

"What? Afraid of a little blood?" Kaname asked.

To prove him wrong and control my anger I took out a kunai and slashed at my arm, blood gushed out like crazy. Kaname turned a faint shade of green. "Does that answer your question, Dumbass?"

He nodded and turned back to the fight.

"Listen, if you're going to puke, could you do it somewhere else?" Shikamaru said.

Kaname nodded his head and left the room.

"Did you really need to cut open your arm, Roza?" Shikamaru asked.

I took out a healing solution and secretly spread it, the bleeding stopped and I wrapped the wound to hide the evidence, "Just making a point, no big deal." I said. Shino didn't speak throughout the whole scene.

We watched the battle and, for a moment, I thought Neji was going to win. But Naruto popped up from the ground and punched Neji in the chin. Naruto won this battle.

He ran around the stadium once and quickly ran up the stairs to the room we were all in. Shikamaru congratulated him and I nodded in acknowledgment.

"Hey, where did that freak Kaname go?" Naruto asked.

"Probably puking his guts out." Shikamaru said.

"If he has any." I added grimly.

"Did Sasuke come yet?" Naruto asked, looking around.

"No," Shikamaru said.

'Good,' I thought, happy that I won't have to see Sasuke get killed. That would be bad.

Unfortunately, the proctor announced that Sasuke's match was to be postponed.

"Yes!" Naruto said.

"Match number two: Kankuro vs. Shino."

This was a match I wanted to see. But my luck wasn't getting any better, "I give up." Kankuro said.

"Ok-ay...Temari vs. Shikamaru?"

"Let's get this over with." Temari said, getting on her fan and swooping out the opening. Shikamaru was pushed out by Naruto.

The match was boring at first, but it soon got interesting. But what really got me a little anxious was the fact that Shikamaru was meditating, but Temari didn't dare go closer.

He got out of the position and continued, but I didn't pay attention. All I paid attention to was the fact the Temari won by default.

Shikamaru went towards the opening but stayed in the doorway, for a moment I thought he was waiting for Temari, but she passed by him without eyes contact and he didn't follow.

"Next match; Roza vs. Kaname."

He was already there when I got down to the field. "Begin!"

He lunged first, trying to stab me with a kunai. I dodged in the air simply. Then I felt something move behind me. I turned in the air and barely dodged another kunai by doing a back flip.

He was throwing weapons at me rapid fire and I got stabbed many times. Then something caught my eye, 'The tunnel!' I thought.

I got on the ground and ran towards the wall while dodging many kunai and getting hit by more. I ran up the wall and did a perfect dive into the hole. I crawled to the other side and performed the handsigns for Mist. I saw through the hole a thick fog beginning to form. I jumped strait up and couldn't see anything. I focused chakra into my chocker and heard a yelp to my left; I threw a kunai, hard, in that direction. I cleared the fog and saw Kaname on the ground with a kunai thrust deeply in his head. The audience gasped and there were whispers.

"Winner is Roza."

The applause didn't happen for another few minutes, but I did get a decent applause. I walked up the stairs and passed Shikamaru, he nodded at me and I nodded back, smiling.  
"What are you waiting for?" I asked.

"Sasuke."

"Oh...you do know that if one of us was late, then we would have been disqualified, right?"

"I am aware."

"Sasuke has 10 minutes to show up."

"Goddamnit!!" I said aloud, storming upstairs.

Now the only ones up there were Shino, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro and me. All of them completely ignored me and I ignored them.

We waited for Sasuke to come, I didn't have much eagerness, 'He could have curled up in a corner and died for all I cared.'

But in a way, I did care. Sasuke was to be fighting Gaara. Gaara! The one who was completely merciless. Two seconds on the field and Sasuke would die in seconds!

But, of course, he was strong. Very strong. Next to me, he was the strongest one in the class.

In my constant think about nothing, a huge wind picked up and leaves spun in a circle around the arriving visitors. Sasuke had arrived.

'Show off.' I thought, glumly.

Gaara went down the stairs while Naruto and Shikamaru went up the stairs. Gaara came out, but Naruto and Shikamaru never came up. I ignored their disappearance and paid attention to the match.

It wasn't anything special; Gaara making a clone of himself with sand, Sasuke's chakra becoming seeable, Gaara surrounding himself in sand. Nothing big.

But what really was big was the smoke explosion where Lord Hokage was. I looked at the platform he and Kazekage were sitting; Kazekage had a kunai to Hokage's neck.

Temari and Kankuro jumped from the room and went to Gaara, who apparently was hurt. I looked at the audience and saw that most of them were out cold. But the Jonin were fighting with some new figures.

"Crap!" I said out loud. I also jumped from the room but stayed on the wall. I ran all the way around until I found Ayumi, who was fighting off a whole team on her own. I threw a kunai at one of the enemy and he fell back. I landed back-to-back with Ayumi and I fought with her.

Once they were either dead or unconscious Ayumi turned around to face me and grabbed my shoulders; her face was hard. "Now listen, Roza," she started, "Go into the village, take all the women and children to safety. Do not get into any fights! This isn't just some training session, this is war."

I nodded once and went into the village. 'I'll start with the Inn; there must be more people there anyway.' I thought.

Once the Inn came into view, I could have cried.

* * *

The whole building was in flames, brilliant orange-red flames. Surrounding the building were at least four teams. I landed right behind one and cut his head off with the kunai I drew.

His buddies heard him fall and turned from the building to look at me.

I could feel my whole appearance; pale skin, the dark shadows under my eyes were completely visible. If it was possible, my eyes could have sparked red.

One of them laughed to my left and I threw my kunai at him. It went right through him; his heart was actually pinned to the wall behind him.

He fell forward and the rest of them stared at me with terrified eyes. I threw another kunai; this time it hit two at the same time.

"Let's get out of here!" one of them said, but I wouldn't let them leave. I threw more and they were dead in seconds.

I looked back at the burning building and tried to get inside, but someone grabbed my arm and held me there. I took out another kunai and tried to stab who it was, but saw that it was Shino.

"Please don't go in there." he groaned.

"I have to, Shino, Auntie is in there still! I have to get her!"

I tried to get out but he squeezed my arm tighter, "I'm not letting you go in there."

I didn't know what to say. Auntie, the first one to love me, was burning alive during an ambush on the village. The only thing that stood in my way was Shino, my crush.

I felt hatred towards Shino now; he didn't want me to help my family. I ducked my head and sobbed once. Then I lifted my other arm and punched him hard in the face.

He let go and stumbled backwards. I ran at the building, jumped through the window, and searched the whole downstairs while crying out, "Auntie! Auntie!"

There was no life downstairs except for the fire. I ran up the stairs while carefully avoiding the cursed element.

I ran into a room and bumped into something dangling from the ceiling. I looked strait ahead and saw a pair of feet hanging tow feet above the ground. I didn't want to see the rest of the body, but I looked up anyway.

I shrieked as loud as I could. I didn't stop shrieking even though I was running out of breath. The body of my best friend...I didn't dare think his name...hung by his scarf from a nail on the ceiling. Near the nail was a hole. 'He must have fallen through while walking around upstairs.' I thought, still screaming.

"Hey! I think there's something over here!" I heard voices and the shuffling of feet.

"Oh my God! That kid wasn't kidding."

"I doubt he would be."

"Let's get her out of here before she gets burned too."

"And the boy?"

"It's better if he stays. Come on, Roza,"

I felt someone pick me up and carry me away easily. I was still screaming a single note. But someone put their hand over my mouth. "You are going to make me deaf."

"Give her a break, Ibiki, that was her teammate you know."

"I know, but I wish to continue hearing."

We were out of the building but enemies were waiting for us.

"So you managed to save one, huh?" one of them said.

I jumped out of Ibiki's arms and ran at the one who spoke. I slammed him against the wall and bit into his shoulder, ripping out an enormous amount of flesh.

The warm blood dripped down my throat and I felt 100 stronger. I spit out the dried flesh and turned to face the rest.

Everything was quiet, but one of them cried, "She's a cannibal!"

I killed him next.

One by one I bit into them and tasted the flesh and blood. When they were all dead, Ibiki and the other one stared at me. I turned away from them, mostly because the building was right behind them. The memory of the body.

"He was walking around upstairs, probably trying to save them." I was saying out loud, "But the fire burnt a hole in the floor and he fell through. His scarf caught on a nail in the wood and he was hung. Betrayed by his own home. But where are Kenshin and Auntie?"

A scream from the building answered my question. But it didn't die quickly. I was frozen, I couldn't bare to see another of my friends dead bodies. The scream was female and very familiar; Auntie.

"I can't take it anymore." I said. I took out my last kunai and struck it right through my heart.

I heard voices calling my name and everything went dark.

* * *

**this is not the last chapter**


	23. The Last Chapter

**Okay, really sorry about this guys, he original Last Chapter got deleted so I had to retype it. It's a little bit different then the original, but still basically the same.

* * *

**

A bright light broke the darkness. My senses came back with much inaccuracy; my body was numb, there was a ringing in my ears, and my vision was blocked from the blinding white light. 'Am I dead?' I wondered.

I wanted to go near the light; it was blinding me, yes, but something told me to go near it. I tried to move, but my body was so numb I could hardly breathe.

Then, something blocked the light; a figure of something. It was about my height and it had a spiky head. As my vision slowly got better, I saw it was really Yasashiku and his spiky hair.

"Yasashiku?" I tried to say but no noise came out.

Suddenly, his eyes turned a bloodshot red and was encased black aura. He began to float higher and higher, the black aura pouring out of his mouth. I didn't want to see this; I closed my eyes and saw those bloodshot eyes. I didn't open my eyes again, I kept them closed and stared at the beast behind my eye lids.

Looking into his eyes was like watching an old movie with scenes constantly changing; the first skit was one of a woman hold two baby boys in each arm, a man had his arm around the woman and they were both smiling at their precious gifts. In the next skit, the two babies grew up and were now two years old. They were standing in front of a grave, weeping in the man's chest while the tears ran down the adults cheeks. The next skit had one of the little boys floating in the air with his eyes almost red and a black aura pouring in his mouth., the other boy and probably the father were no where to be found. 'That must have been Yasashiku.' I thought to myself. This next skit had a major time skip; the Yasashiku and Kenshin were looking at each other; Kenshin looked tired, but Yasashiku was glaring at him with red eyes. Yasashiku ran at his brother with a clawed hand and slashed his chest; Kenshin yelled in pain and fell limp on the floor. Yasashiku's eyes turned back to normal and he also collapsed. This last skit was another grave scene; Yasashiku and Kenshin were in front of a grave with no man to be seen.

The eyes disappeared and I was staring at another light, a different light. I knew it was different because it was more yellow then the first. There was no longer a ringing in my ears, just a short beeping noise that sped up a little. I got more feeling in my body, more pain in my torso. I noticed that someone was looking down at me.

"She's awake!" someone cried, "Nurse! Roza woke up! She's not dead!"

I recognized the voice, "Ino?" I couldn't even hear myself, but someone grasped my hand and said, "Yes, I'm here Roza."

"What happened?"

"You tried to commit suicide! But your sensei came in, injected some sort of green liquid, and you woke up in only a day!"

"You called?" a new voice asked.

"Um, Yeah! She's awake...and talking...and...!"

"Calm down, Ino dear," the voice said, probably the nurse, "Roza? Can you hear me?"

"Yes I said."

"Okay...how do you feel?"

"Like fucking shit."

"She's fine." Ino said.

"O...Kay."

I tried to sit up, but more pain shot through my torso and I fell back onto the bed.

"Don't push yourself, Roza, you aren't better yet!"

I tried again, ignoring the pain. My vision was clearer now, the yellow light was really one that was hanging from the ceiling, Ino was still holding my hand and a rather pretty looking nurse was checking a clipboard. I also noticed a big bouquet of flowers on the bedside table.

A beautiful mixture of tulips, carnations, and many roses stood in a black vase with a fancy design on it. I also noticed in one of the white tulips was a very small folded piece of paper.

"Ino..." I started, "Did you get me those flowers?"

She looked at the bouquet then shook her head, "No, they were here when I got here."

"Actually," the nurse said, "nobody but your sensei and Ino here have visited you; these must have some over night."

"Isn't that against the rules?" I asked.

"Well...yes."

There was a pause and then, "What happened?"

"I told you Roza, you tried to commit sui..." Ino started, but I cut her off.

"No, I mean the attack. Who won? How many were injured? Who planned the whole operation?"

"Well...we did have many injuries and a lot more deaths..." the nurse stopped.

"Who won?"

The nurse looked almost on the verge of tears, "We did...but there was...a price."

"What price?"

"Lord...Lord Hokage sacrificed himself to help win the fight."

"W-what?" I stuttered. The nurse broke down into tears and Ino let go of my hand and put her arm around the weeping nurse saying, "Come on, it's okay. I'll get you some water. Shhh." Then she led her away, closing the door behind her.

While they were gone, I thought, 'Lord Hokage...The Third...is dead? This whole thing was too much. Auntie, Yasashiku...possibly Kenshin, and now...Lord Hokage.'

"Who would do such a thing?" I asked aloud. My eyes then drifted over to the paper in the tulip. I reached over and took out the thin paper. I opened it and written was a small painting of a black butterfly.

"Oh!" I said, fascinated, "How beautiful!"

I stared at the paper for a little while longer, and then snapped back to reality, "Well, not going to stay here all day." I said, slowing getting out of bed and making my way to the window.

I found out that I was only on the second floor, so I jumped out and stumbled a little when I landed. I tried to run but it was too painful. 'I need to see Ayumi!' I thought franticly, but there was one problem; I had no clue where she lived.

"Hello, Roza." a bored sounding male voice said. "Out of the hospital already? For a suicidal killer, you heal fast."

I turned around to see Kakashi, probably smiling under his mask. "Hi Kakashi-sensei."

"Where are you going on this...sad day?"

"Well, I wanted to go to Ayumi-sensei's house, but I don't really know where she lives. Could you tell me?"

"Sure, 666 Luck Ave." he said, pointing.

"Luck Ave.? Isn't that the street for criminals?" I asked.

"Yup, see you later, Roza." he said. Then he walked off.

I walked down the street and noticed a lot of graffiti and a few blood splatters on random places, there was even a dead human body decaying in the street.

'664...665...here we go.' I thought, walking up the stoop to house number 666. I knocked on the door twice and Ayumi's voice asked, "Who is it?"

"Me." I answered faintly.

The door swung open and Ayumi hugged me very tightly. I yelled in pain and she quickly let go, pulled me inside, sat me on the couch, and then hurried to lock her door.

"What are you doing here?! You should be in the hospital...healing!"

"I don't like hospitals to much," I said, "But there was something I wanted to talk to ask you; how did you heal me?"

She seemed surprised by the question, "Well, I used that stuff you used on Kenshin. I observed how you injected it into him and just memorized the steps."

"How did you make it? I never ever wrote down the recipe."

"You had some in you bag, I recognized the green liquid and used it."

"Whoa..." I said.

'She just used a substance that no even years of training could accomplish. I just demonstrated it once and yet she can now save lives!'

There was a pause, and then Ayumi said, "You need to get back to the hospital."

"When's Lord Hokage's funeral?" I asked, flatly. She looked down then said, "Tomorrow."

"I'm not going to the hospital if that's the case."

"Fine, but you might as well stay here; I have an extra bedroom you can use."

"Thanks, sensei, but..." I started, but she cut me off, "No, Roza, you need to rest. Come on, I'll show you the way."

I stood up and, ignoring the pain, followed her down the hall. The room we entered was small with only a bed, a desk, and another door which was probably the closet.

"It's not much, but...you know." Ayumi said, "I've got something you might want to wear at the funeral; it wouldn't be very appropriate to wear that white hospital gown. It's a long sleeved black dress."

"That's fine." I said, sitting on the bed. Ayumi stared me down, "Are you going to sleep tonight?" she asked.

I thought for a moment, then decided to tell the truth, "No, probably not."

"Will you ever tell me why you never sleep?"

"Eventually, yes." That seemed to be good enough for her; she left the room and closed the door.

I paced the room and little, trying to walk off the pain. I took off the gown and looked at the wound; it wasn't as bad as it should have been, it looked more like a scar to be honest.

* * *

The next day, I slipped on the long black dress and brushed my hair. When Ayumi and I walked out, it was already raining. We walked down the street and I noticed that nobody was on the street, not even the dead body.

At the funeral, I gave my rose to the grave and walked away silently to the back of the crowd. Once it ended, everyone met with their other teammates and sensei's. I stayed where I was. Ayumi didn't even come to pick me up.

For three days, I stood there, staring at the grave of not only Lord Hokage, but of all the shinobi who had died during the struggle. Every once in a while, people would come and pay their respects or weep over a lost loved one, but I ignored them and they ignored me.

I never cried. For days I stood, completely immobilized and unemotional. For three days I didn't cry, eat, sleep, or anything, I just stood in place.

A forth day eventually came, then a forth night. That night, I heard someone walking behind me. Nothing new, but the fact that they stopped and spoke to me was new.

"Roza?"

I turned around and saw Shino a few feet away, wearing his usual tinted glasses and white trench coat. Just staring at him made me feel sad, very sad. And, for the first time in three days and four mornings, I cried. Tears rolled down my face and I hiccupped. I ran at Shino and cried in his coat, staining it.

There was nothing awkward or intimidating about the scene. Shino put his arm on my back and comforted me. We sank to the ground and, after a few long hours, I cried myself to my first real sleep in a long time. I fell asleep in Shino's arms.

* * *

**okay, if you want to read more about Roza and her adventures, go to my website. the link is located in my bio...somewhere. Also, if you want a squel, just reveiw saying, "SQUEL!" or something like that because i think i spelt it wrong. Please leave all hate reviews to yourself.**


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